no, you're correct. if it did sound as good as the original CD, then the bitrate does not matter.

the basis of my comment was thomson's claim that, in testing, people find that the quality of a MP3Pro file encoded at 64 kbps is comparable to a MP3 file encoded somewhere between 96 and 128 kbps. so, if we make the assumption that the rates scale linearly, a MP3Pro file at 96 kbps might sound roughly like an MP3 encoded between 144 and 192 kbps.

i tend to encode my MP3's at 256 kbps. i just wasn't happy with lower bitrates, and i've had compatibility issues with VBR. so, in these days when disk is cheap (and i only use disk-based players), i choose quality over size. if i were using a flash memory-based player, i'd be much more interested in this technology.

then again, if i do give up on MP3 at some point, it will probably be in favor of a patent- and royalty-free format like vorbis.

--dan.