Yeah, look out for the hype, particularly about titanium. I just
pulled this quote off the Litespeed homepage: "Buy the TERAMO on Friday
morning, get it out of the box Friday night, get up Saturday morning
and start winning races!" If that's not bonafide BS, I don't know what
is. (http://www.litespeed.com/bikes/2005/teramo.aspx )

I know Bicycling magazine just came out with a buyers guide that might
be helpful. It would at least give you an idea of road bikes that are
in your price range, as well as what materials they're made of.

Personally, I tend to ignore the buyers guides because I'm both cheap
and reluctant to be swayed by a source that has to please its
advertisers. However, there may be a few nuggets of insight for folks
like you who are buying their first bike in a long time.

At the top end of your budget you could probably get a close to
top-of-the-line road bike that's both comfortable and very fast. But
for $1500 you could probably do well, too - all depends on how fast you
want to go and how much you just gotta have those new, fancy
components.

Comfort should be addressed by fit and frame material. If you specify
that you want to avoid aluminum frames, you should be able to find
something comfy. Some road riders are happy with an aluminum frame but
add a carbon fork for dampening the bumps, so that might be an option,
too.

Fit is diifferent for everyone so a trip to a well-stocked, quality
bike shop would probably be good, too. A good shop can look at your
size and weight and probably match you with something that'll work.

I'm a mountain biker riding an aluminum hardtail. For me the weight
benefit of aluminum over steel is worth the bumpier ride, but if I were
logging long hours in the saddle on a road bike, I would probably go
the carbon route if I had the money. If not, I'd go with maybe
aluminum frame/carbon fork option. YMMV, of course.

Good luck.

-Bill H.