You don't ask much!
Teasing. Welcome to SBB - glad you found us. All of your questions are good ones!
Well there are those of us who do both kinds of scrapping. I, myself, tend to use my real scrap supplies for craft projects, like altered projects, etc. I also have plans to embellish my digital albums with real scrap supplies - I just love to alter things, but I haven't had the time to actually do that. Many of us do print out our digital pages, but there are those of us who leave it digital, passing out cd's for christmas cards, etc. I see no reason why you can't keep your scrap library on cd - but you will want to take extra special care of the discs and keep backups etc. Data does eventually degrade on a cd - I have heard different stories, but for sure it doesn't last "forever" - just something to keep your eye on as you make this choice.
Printing your los (layouts) can be as expensive as you like. Some of us print them at home with regular printers on photo paper, sizing them down to 8x8 and clipping the extra paper off. Some have fancy 12x12 printers, and some send them out to be printed. When you figure the cost of printing your layouts, you'll find it can run about the same or more at home, by the time you pay for the ink, etc. Someone will, I hope, chime in here and list a few sources for printing - I haven't yet had much experience with that.
Computer scrapping is good because you have the BACKSPACE! LOL. That is my favorite part. If I don't like what I have created, I can undo it without wasting a bunch of purchased materials. My other favorite thing about it is there's no mess to clean up before you can start your next project!
Purchasing digital scrapping kits is more economical from the standpoint that you can use the digital kits over and over. You will find some great choices in Scrapbook Bytes own store. There are many many sites out there also selling awesome kits and backgrounds and other elements. Also, some folks make their own backgrounds - as you become familiar with your graphics program, you may want to look into that, as well.
As far as cool techniques, I'd say hands down that these are only limited by your imagination and your abilities to use your graphics program. You will enjoy learning about brushes and blend modes and extracting and all sorts of things that can enhance your pages. Just take a look through the gallery and you'll be amazed at all of the wonderful digital talent out there.
Oh and I also meant to say that there are many freebies out there for you to whet your whistle, as it were. If you follow the downloads link at the top of this page, you will be taken to our download section to get started.
Enjoy!