[GipperGal]

but now that I know it I would never go to a Novus Ordo by choice.

Is there are difference between the "Tridentine" Mass and the Latin Rite. I've heard so many various Masses mentioned in FR. I would like to understand better. (This is a plea for instruction!) :)

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

The Tridentine Mass was the official liturgy of the Roman Rite, also known as the Latin Rite. The Novus Ordo is the second of the two liturgies celebrated within the Roman Rite.

[te lucis]

Two books I'd strongly recommend:
1)The Mass: A Study of the Roman Liturgy by Dr. Adrian Fortescue
2) The Reform of the Roman Liturgy: Its Problems & Consequences by Msgr. Klaus Gamber (w/ a foreward by Card. Ratzinger)

The Gamber book may be a litle hard to come by, but Fortescue is available from Tan, Angelus Press, and elsewhere.

[Mark in the Old South]

What you see in most Catholic Churches is the New Mass, invented in the late 60's. The Latin Mass is very ancient but was well defined in the Council of Trent in the late 16th century. Maronite and Byzantine are also very old and were regional variations that you may encounter now and again.