The thing people tend to forget is, the POD's are supposed to sound like an amp that is being mic'd in an isolated room, with you being in the control room listening back on the studio monitors. Is this going to sound like an amp would sound if you were in the same room as it? No, and neither would a real amp. For recording purposes, using a POD, or something similar, is just so much easier than trying to mic a real amp, and the tones usually tend to be better (unless you have access to a decent recording studio and/or the knowledge of how to properly mic and mix an amp [which most people don't]).