Have you encountered VHS or Cassette piracy in the 80s? (piefed.social)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by Shadow79@piefed.social to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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Like that infamous "ET" torrent in 1982 where it involved a "pirate" sneaking a huge JVC camcorder (with a VHS reel) recording the entire movie in theaters, given this was before DVD's existed (don't even ask about pirate bay, those weren't available yet). The same applies to "torrented" music, one would have a spare tape cassette recording the song played via the radio, that's how they torrented content back then if they can't afford an official copy.

Only millennials or Gen X who were kids back then would've encountered or witnessed VHS or Cassette "torrents" from either friends or family and often or not, piracy in the pre internet days was rife even before torrent sites were a thing. There are VHS "torrents" of TV shows or series (placing a camcorder which faces the TV screen with a spare reel recording the entire show (ads included), then used to fast forward upon replay.

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[-] FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 4 points 1 week ago

Didn't have it for ET but for Disney movies that weren't published on VHS at all because in my region they just kept rereleasing Snowwhite and Jungle Book in theaters periodically.

I've recorded songs off the radio too. I have copied VHSs as well later in life when a buddy had to bring over their recorder so we could hook them up to each other.

And the first music torrent was in maybe 7th grade and up. Somebody would get a new CD for their birthday or xmas and after a couple of weeks of exclusive listening Guns'n'Roses or Metallica would go from friend to friend where everybody got themselves a copy on cassette tape. There would be strategic planning like you get Michael Jackson (we didn't know back then) and you get U2 or whatever around December.

this post was submitted on 23 May 2026

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