Sure, Rlynn, it seems more convenient to you right now, but soon it probably won't. There are already easy, fairly cheap ways to do this, though, yes, you do need a computer in your listening room. (Actually, that's not strictly true.) But you don't have to run any cable -- today's wireless networks provide more than ample bandwidth to pipe losslessly encoded CD-audio streams around the house.
One really easy way to do this is with Apple's AirPort Express wireless hub, which has a digital S/PDIF output -- plug it into the wall by your stereo, plug in your DAC, and you're ready to go. The cool thing about doing something like this is that you can also plug in another AirPort Express by your listening chair, in your bedroom, or wherever, and just have a small headphone DAC and amp there so you won't be tethered to your main rig when you're listening to headphones. See
Stereophile's review from more than two years ago for some more info on this, and definitely browse around and ask questions in Head-Fi's Computer Audio forum if it interests you.
I guess I'm just trying to point out that there really are benefits to giving up the CD experience. For me, living in a small apartment, simply not having to have all the CDs on hand is worth it. But it's also great to be able to put some tunes on a portable player to take with me, and to be able to organize and browse all my music in a program like iTunes. I think you'll quickly grasp what the computer route has going for it when you get the chance to play around with a well set-up computer-based rig. If that doesn't happen for a while, no problem -- keep buying and using CDs until you're convinced or until your CD-player needs replacing. When you do finally switch over, all you have to do is rip alll your CDs to a hard-drive and you've got everything you had before, but with a whole lot more flexibility.
But back to the topic: it really would be great if DG ends up offering lossless CD-equivalent audio or even recordings at better than CD quality. Duggeh's mention of
Linn's online music store is on target. They've done some neat stuff with hi-rez offerings. If DG can do something like that, we'd be most of the way there.
But I noted earlier that I don't think lossless is quite ready for widespread downloading yet. Part of the problem is just bandwidth, but more important are the formats. Portable devices seem to support only one or the other of the two big ones, FLAC and ALAC. Obviously portables aren't the target market for lossless, but iTunes' lack of support for FLAC, coupled with everyone else's avoidance of ALAC in an effort to hold back Apple, means that there isn't really a format that a lot of people will be able to download and have "just work." And downloads are, first, about convenience.
Still, you gotta start somewhere, and it would make sense for someone like DG to get out in front on lossless. The rise of computers as music hubs has brought with it insouciance about sound quality, and a discerning market niche like the classical music crowd is the right place to start the process of bringing things back around. We can have both convenience and quality ... if someone will sell it to us.
Eric