Which is better: Classical Music or Today's Pop Music?

I recently watched the movie Amadeus about Mozart.  One scene in the movie showed a clip from a four-hour-long opera.  The scene showed Mozart's rival Salieri riveted as he watched it.  I realized that musical consumption was much different back then.  In those days, they did not have record players, a Walkman, a CD player, or an iPod.  Music was less accessible, and there was no skipping tracks or fast-forwarding.

I realized that I would have a very hard time keeping my attention span fixed on a four-hour-long piece of music.  My music consumption lately has been the same as my Internet consumption: I skim over lots of songs and rarely have the patience to process anything complex.  I wonder if this is why pop music is so simplistic.  I would venture to say that the average person today would pick their favorite modern tunes over anything classical, but is it because (a) pop music is better or (b) they have a much different musical pallet?  I think it is probably (b).

My opinion is that top notch classical music is probably "better", but you have to have the pallet to enjoy it.