I thought the same thing, that it was more work but it actually isnt, at least the way I do things.
Lets start old school, you d/led a show in SHN format via FTP. Its all there so you run the md5s to check it all made it out ok, and it did. Now, to be sure this is the original seed most usually check the etree db to match up md5s. You can either do this by d/ling the md5s and running them against the files to verify, or you can do it by eye... which is what I always did. Now youre all good, can decode to wav and drop on a CD to enjoy whever you please...
New school, you get a show in FLAC format via FTP. You can then check the ffp by eye to the ffp on the db to be sure you have the right source with the correct lineage that hasnt been played around with. Then you can decode to wav AND verify to be sure its all there in one step. Seems to me it has taken out a step and is therefore less work than it actually seems. Throw in the BT auto check, and its a nicer touch
-Stiles