The equipment has not changed my tastes.
Things that did:
Ken Burn's series: Jazz, Watching it utterly revolutionized my understanding of Jazz. Prior to seeing it, my understanding was near zero, All i thought was what is this? noodling?, after i understood in a tiny degree what the musicians were doing, and was amazed and delighted. Now i have to say i love Jazz.
Another golden insight into music is the "All Music Guide" books. Using the guide to Rock has allowed me to find cheap new music (pre internet) on used Cds and check them out. I still take the book along whenever i go rummaging for used CDs. (ditto the All Music Guide to Jazz)
For Classical, (my first love), i am afraid i have not found any sources that really are useful. The best of the bunch was "American Record Guide" magazine would have 'overviews' of composers and the recordings, (one per issue) in which they compare recording of works. Other than that i have yet to find a useful thing to assist in choosing good Classical works. (i do not put much faith in reviews that just say this is good..etc. When so very many recording have been made already of every work.. to sort them out is just too difficult, So my Classical collection is basically stagnant, i might buy an item because it is of my favs, but that is it.
The internet has improved the ability to find what i seek by a huge measure. Though i usually just search locally through the used stuuf. But for things i have been searching for and cannot find used locally the internet is wonderful. Perhaps a few percent of my purchases, for hard to find stuff, come from internet sources
