Read up on the Nyquist theory, and you'll realize your mistake right here.

Well whatever it works out to be. That's still what that spec refers to. I'm not a rocket scientist in the area of communications, I just know what the (recording hardware)specs are reffering to. And what the effects of having less than 44.1khz sampling, which is usually a cut off from the acoustic environment of the highs. Thats why they sound cheesy.

Don't confuse my use of "bit RATE" with "bit DEPTH". Bit rate = amount of bits per time-frame, bit depth = amount of bits. I'm guessing that might be the reason for your misunderstanding me.

Nah. I got that. I was just stating the difference between Khz specs and bit specs, and why these specs of an mp3 and pcm audio aren't the same. And shouldn't be compared, rather KPbs of an MP3 and bit of a PCM is a more suitable comparison when it comes to quality. You were comparing KHz with bits, they are different.