> Ironically, it would probably be easier to buy a disk then download a file rather than ripping.

This is basically what mp3.com tried to do: treat the physical (music) disc as a license key that gives you access to a digital copy online. Sadly, the courts did not agree with their interpretation of copyright law.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMG_Recordings,_Inc._v._MP3.co....

I've been doing this as well. Occasionally I'll have a disc that fails to rip for some reason (maybe my drive is more sensitive to defects than my player is, or there's some stupid copy protection scheme), and then I'll torrent it. Torrenting is always easier and faster, though it's hard to find special features this way.