Soulseek is still really useful, especially after the crackdown on Megaupload/Mediafire/Rapidshare.

For niche and obscure music, it's always been superior to torrenting IMO.

You mean out-of-copyright music, or music being shared by the copyright holders, right?

I understand what you're saying but there are also lots of instances where you simply cannot find something for sale anywhere and sometimes I simply don't mind flouting copyright rules if it's the only way to locate a copy.

Trust me, I've purchased plenty of used CDs or other formats on eBay or Amazon and will gladly do so again rather than bother with the hunt on Soulseek or other sources of unlicensed downloads. But in the end, as "entitled" as it may make me, I'd rather resort to copyright infringement than never find a copy of that (song/album/etc) from the tape or CD I lost in college that's just not available anymore.

Soulseek is still the best (and often only) way of finding some music. Not everything is on private trackers.

You're right, it's the only place I found John Addison's soundtrack for the Movie Sleuth (1972, Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier).