With all due respect, "I played around with Ubuntu for a few days" *hardly* warrants 'knowing' Linux.
For the sound, it seems like you don't have correct packages installed. My music actually sounds better coming from it than it does XP. For everything else, re-read my first sentence...
Don't blame the OS if *you* don't want to dedicate the time it takes to learn it. It's a shame really, you could have had so much fun with so many things if you'd simply given yourself a few weeks to understand *how* Linux works rather than gripe about *why* you need to learn how to use it.
<sniff> I smell smoke...is there a Flame coming...?