Internet Radio sounds better than ripped CDs. Why

I have to agree with the original post. I'm using Apple lossless codec and through an Airport Express I find the results to be unsatisfactory. On the other hand some internet radio stations such as TSF Jazz which are streamed at 128 kbs sound almost analog in quality. I know that TSF does play some vinyl (I can hear the surface noise) but regardless the majority of the music sounds wonderful. It must be due to the encoding. I will have to investigate other encoding methods other than Apple lossless.

What I'm hearing with Apple lossless is a hardness and compressed sound. Whereas a station like TSF Jazz sounds much more open. It's not that I don't hear the compression especially during complex pieces but overall its much more listenable. Since I'm using the analog out, maybe the AE isn't the best for decoding Apple lossless? Or perhaps I need to use error correction when ripping CDs. I don't have much interest in a external DAC at this time. I'm just not interested in spending big bucks on audio any more. In fact I'm really enjoying the mid-fi sound (and convenience) of internet radio and Pandora.