Yeah, Live does have lots of depth, and i'm all for learning one platform as much as possible before finding another one. i think live and max are two different beasts, really, with different strengths and weaknesses that i would love to discuss at length.
Max 5 is pretty sweet, I'm really liking the usability enhancements a lot, although it's still pretty buggy.
Live is still my DAW of choice, in fact i'm using it right now in this play i'm doing in france. I bought logic because it's so damn cheap with the education discount, but it really pisses me off in many ways. But ProTools has really lost me, with their crappy payment structure, hardware tie-ins, and lack of updates (wtf no leopard version still?!), so i'm using logic for my big recording sessions now, for better or for worse.
Another sound toy I've been playing with is the Circle synth. definitely best software synth I've used so far, in terms of sound as well as interface design. the demo is really worth a download:
http://futureaudioworkshop.com/