In brief: the average classical LP sold for $5.00 during most of my time in high school. Budget-label affairs tended to run $2.50 or less.
In 2012, most new-release classical albums run $9.99 as iTunes downloads, or $15.99 full retail on CD. A few run more; budget releases of course run less.
I had a minimum-wage job in Colorado during part of my high school years. I made $1.60 an hour. Subtract taxes, social security, union fees, and whatnot, and it came down to about $1.20 all told.
Therefore: in the late 1960s, it cost me four hours of minimum-wage work to buy a classical album.
But nowadays, a minimum-wage earner in California ($8.00—let’s say $5.50 after taxes and deductions) needs less than two hours for the iTunes download, the better choice for a minimum-wage budget, sonic compromises be damned. If that minimum-wage worker is in San Francisco, where the minimum wage is higher ($10.00 plus change, thus about $7.00 after taxes and deductions) then it’s a more like an hour and a half.
In other words, records were more expensive when I was a teenager. I had far fewer than I have now, but I listened to them more and knew them more intimately as a result. I’m not altogether sure which is the better state of affairs. My high-school self would have looked at my 2012 record collection with jaw-dropping, drooling envy. But there is something to be said for concentration and simplicity.