EvilGuy: Going on a limb here in assuming you are in your 20's ? Steam is a bad idea in the long run. The average game is completed within a week and very little replay value offered. With Steam you are unable to loan it out to friends or to sell.
Well, a fair bit older than that, unfortunately ;-)
The problems you describe are to do with the gaming industry in general, not the delivery mechanism. Without Steam, I'd be buying new copies of games when the CD gets damaged, or I buy a new computer, or having to fool around with NoCD patches to do things the way they should've been done when the game was released.
As for loaning and selling used games - I understand that is important to some people and no solution will make everyone happy. But for the most part Steam does more good than harm.
I don't see how you are saving money, games I bought digitally were the same price as retail box like Blizzard games and Bad Company 2. I put alot of hours into BC2 I should have got the box so it could sit on the shelf next to my other BF1942 games.
COD:XXX (the last three editions) I've bought off Steam at at least 10% less then EB had it for; CitiesXL I got for 95% off. When patches for those games come out, Steam keeps them upto date. I've got heaps of boxes sitting in the computer room, I don't need more
