How did I miss Kay Hanley's latest gig?

I'm behind the times.

I never saw Boston-based band Letters to Cleo in concert but I always liked their pop melodies. About 13 years ago, I bought their 1994 album, "Aurora Gory Alice," which I uploaded to iTunes last spring.

As I listen to it now, I wondered what happened to lead singer Kay Hanley. I found this Boston Globe article from last December that highlights Hanley as a backup singer to Miley Cyrus.

If I was a bigger Letters to Cleo fan, I suppose I would have known this. But it goes to the bigger issue that I'm out of touch with today's music scene.

As a college student, I belonged to BMG, Columbia House, CDNow, and other music "clubs" that sent packages of free CDs if I agreed to buy so many more at jacked-up prices. That's how I built up most of my collection of 500+ CDs over the years.

But now? Do I buy a CD or do I download it off iTunes Music Store? I used to buy CDs for no reason than the cover art looked pretty or a song sample sounded good; it's too easy to buy music these days and there are a billion and a half more music concerts today than 10 years ago, so how am I supposed to choose what I like?