With all the possible flavors of brake pads out there, how does one find the "right" pad for their combination?

I know that some calipers have more available than others, but most of us have at least 6-8 different compounts.

Just a smigen of the offereings that I found are:

Carbotech
XP8
XP10
XP12
XP16

Cobalt
VR (discontinued as of 01/06)

Ferrodo
DS3000

Hawk
9012 Blue
HT-10
HT-14
DTC-60
DTC-70

Pagid
RS4 (Orange)
RS14 (Black)

PFC
97
01

Porterfield
R4
R4E