Recorded internet streams seem to always come out crappy. Most depends on the bandwidth of the broadcast. But even the best stream isn’t as good as ripping a CD.
At least with ripping a CD you have the option to choose the format that you rip to. I’m not an audiophile, so I’m not as obsessed with lossless digital files, but I’d like to see lossless downloading become an option for people that want to download (either on a service like iTunes or eMusic, or on a p2p site). The mp3 format is only popular because it can compress songs and make them small enough to download, even if you have dial up (although even with a crappy 56k connection, downloading a 3-5 MB file is still at least a 30-45 minute wait). Even with broadband now a mainstream phenomenon, you don’t see much of a clamor for WAV, FLAC or Apple Lossless downloads.