Luddites and technophobes dont like downloaded music! Stop the press!
The key isnt the delivery mechanism or the packaging/pressing, its the mastering and production of the music.
Vinyl, tape, redbook CD, SACD, DVDA (i love that one - check out South Park DVDA) all have limitations in the resolution they deliver, of course some better than others. Guess how you can get 'master tape quality' music??? Yep , you guessed it, DOWNLOADS. This is the ONLY delivery method that pushes the restriction on quality back up to the studio recording.
Of course, you are thinking now about the crappy quality of downloads you get from iTunes or compressed CDs or whatever, but you wouldnt jump to the conclusion that all downloaded music sounded poor would you?
Aside from poor compression technology, downloaded music can remove a compression link (ie redbook CD) from the chain actually getting you closer to the original source.
A recent article on the topic....
http://hifi-stereo.suite101.com/article.cfm/highquality_audiophile_download_services
The only thing you need now is for the audio manufacturers to build good quality kit that supports good quality downloads!....Oh wait, didnt someone mention a squeezbox thingy?