Reading this is weird because those network effects and friend group sharing experiences are exactly how my music lover friends use Spotify.

They share playlists instead of the files. They make friends of friends through playlist recommendations.

I was at a get together a few years ago where someone met a friend of mine and exclaimed, “Oh you’re _____ of the _____ playlist series! Those are amazing!” and then they talked about music and concerts for the next hour.

I don’t think piracy was as key to your experience and joy of music. It was the way you acquired the music, but your enjoyment and the social networks came from the novelty of it all and likely your age at the time. It was all new and fun and you still enjoyed it all.

Your story quickly shifted from being about piracy to complaining about music these days:

> and I fall in love with none of it… It just vaguely sounds like stuff I like. It sucks.

I think you’ve just fallen out of love with music in general. Piracy had nothing to do with it other than being the means to an end at the time of your honeymoon phase.

I remember substantially similar stories from older generations trying to explain how online piracy had ruined music discovery because the real fun was from their younger days of trading bootleg tapes, mix tapes from friends, and going to concerts. The cycle continues.