I too dealt with a lot of audio torrents prior to streaming services.

Another big change for me was the industry got wise to leaks. Now when an album leaks, the labels have a plan to immediately offer it for streaming on a major service or even media partner like NPR.

One of the major values of private Audio trackers was you got to hear stuff way before other people. Even this has been largely taken away. (Though sometimes the previews are now only a few songs)