Rather than taping an album for a mate, I was able to access everything I ever wanted to listen to - and more besides. I downloaded entire discographies, films, TV series, and comics by the containerload.
The whole ‘home taping is killing music’ was dwarfed imho. I think it genuinely threatened the industry at one point which is why so much effort and resources were put in to trying to catch and prosecute uploaders.
The downsides (apart from the illegality): poor compression rates and sound quality.
I’m very happy with the lossless paid-for streaming services now.
