Selecting PASSWORD() value in MySQL

Hello, I'm trying to retrieve data from a MySQL table which contains data encrypted with the MySQL "PASSWORD()" function from a PHP script but I can't seem to get it to work. Below is the query I'm trying: SELECT * FROM user_data WHERE username = 'thaak' AND password = PASSWORD('thaak'); I then tried the following subquery/subselect: SELECT * FROM user_data WHERE username = 'thaak' AND password IN (SELECT PASSWORD('thaak') FROM user_data); ...which also didn't work. If I just execute "SELECT PASSWORD('thaak')" from the MySQL command line it returns the same value stored in the password column of my user_data table. I verified these queries at the MySQL command line so I don't think it's a PHP problem. I need to compare the password the user enters to log in against the password stored in the DB. In addition to the "PASSWORD()" function, I also tried "MD5()" and "ENCRYPT()" but they also failed. Can someone please help me accomplish this or point me to some resources that might help? Thanks! Tim Haak