To me, it seems as though there is some
serious confusion between sample and bit rates.

Yes, it might help if we keep them separate.

- Sample rate : how often the signal is sampled (often 44.1kHz as in
CD)
- Sample size : how many bits the samples are (often 16 or 24)
- Bit rate : used in eg mp3 encoding to show size of output (often
128kbps)

Gunnar