I was told by the record company that what people downloaded would be indistiguishable from what you get on the CD, as far as I can recall.
Ron Olesko: you are quite right that "the album" is a very recent concept. It will be a pity to see it go, if it does, but everything changes. A bit like Classic FM, a British radio station that specialises in transmitting the "good tune" bits of classical music, without the filler in between!