Ah yes, the modern day equivalent of recording radio broadcasts to magnetic tape. Made a few mixtapes that way myself. They were absolute garbage quality and I never listen to them anymore, but it was an interesting exercise and my only option for some stuff at the time.
Now I just buy as directly from the artist as I can for things that are rare enough that they are difficult to pirate.
They wouldn't be selling it if they didn't have a market. Just because it doesn't make sense to you, doesn't mean that it doesn't make sense.