The Illegallity of "free" Music Distribution (Score 2)

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but... I can remember, a long time ago (and seemingly in a galaxy far, far away) recording songs as they were played on the radio, compiling tapes of "popular" or just plain "cool" tunes, and distributing them to my friends and family. I obtained the music in a legal manner, since it was broadcast over the public airwaves, and gave the compilations away for free to my friends and family. We often traded these compilation tapes. Since nobody seems to be charging anything for the MP3s available on each others' computers, how is this different? Is it really "illegal?" You can, after all, still record songs off the airwaves and distribute tapes (or CDs) to your friends and family, probably easier now than when I did it. I guess my point is, that since the capability to distribute free music has always (at least since the recording tape deck was invented) been available, why is it such a huge issue now? Recording tape decks didn't kill the music industry, and I don't see this killing it either. This latest development will probably only necessitate large-scale change in an industry that has needed such a "shot in the arm" for longer than I have been alive. They should (but probably won't) just quit their whining and get with the program (i.e. find a way to make MP3s profitable, trim the "fat" from their corporations, actually reward creativity in their ranks, etc.). I'm just getting a bit tired of hearing large, rich corporations whining about losing a couple dollar's worth of revenue to something that has always been a part of doing business in their chosen fields.