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mysterious pandas watching me

So today at work I decided to play with the iTunes Music Store some more. Beyond what I had already done. It was the most thrilling 15 minutes of "window shoppin" I've ever had. I did a couple of searches for artists (Coltrane, Sheila Chandra, 2Pac) whose album collections I would love to legally own. It was so ridiculously easy and the price is just is just at the point where an impulse buy won't hurt your wallet that much. Of course in large numbers the wallet pain factor would go through the roof. I was so close to buying a couple of Coltrane albums that it was nerve-wracking.
I was held back though and my purchases were firmly in check. The whole 128kbps quality level is just not working for me. A majority of the mp3 music I have now is at or above 192kbps with CD rips at 224kbps or above and most "Live" CDs at 320kbps. I don't care what Jobs or Apple's marketing tells me, I am not going to buy the idea that 128kbps AAC audio sounds like the original CD. I know its better than 128kbps mp3, but a CD? I don't think so. Apple is pretty deceptive in their marteking because on the main iTunes Music Store page they work so hard to sell the AAC compression and they state, "In fact the sound was so good that audiophiles who beta tested the iTunes Music Store were astonished to learn they were listening to 128 kbps sound files." I want to know what these so called "audiophiles" thought they were listening to instead because I bet a lot of them guessed they were listening to a higher bitrate compressed version instead. I highly doubt that any self-respecting audiophile would mix up 128kbps AAC and actual CD quality.
So yea this whole quality situation is just not working. I have a feeling that I might cave but atleast not for the foreseeable future. The other problem I had was the total lack of some artists. For example I couldn't find a single mention anywhere of the Notorious B.I.G.. I tried variations of Biggie's name but no dice. Thats insane! One of the biggest names in Hip-Hop just missing. Not cool Zeus, not cool.
However Apple has presented me with what amounts to a "Discount Crack!" window inside every MacOS X box. If they just upped the quality I have $50 burning a hole in my pocket and thats just for this month.

While continuing the trend of not working at work I took the What Monty Python character are you? quiz. My result:

Quoteses:
"I want to check the Oprah message boards to see if someone calls her a bitch." - Cassi B.

Linkses:
Revealed: How the road to war was paved with lies
Halliburton: All In The Family
Unused audio commentary by Zinn and Chomsky for LOTR:FOTR Platinum DVD. Part two.
Mena Trott kicks ass
Sun goes up, pants go up. Sun goes down, pants go down.
Saddam had gay butt sex?!