I do this with games. A lot of games dont even really get a demo anymore. So its gambling to buy it…
I pirate the games and if i like it i buy it. Generally ill keep playing the pirated version unless it has a multiplayer i want to play as well.

Soulseek to get the music, Musicbrainz Picard to standardize the formatting and fix metadata if it isnt already there

Anytime i download stuff in french, ive gone to yggtorrent. I mainly download stuff in english, but its covered my needs when i needed something in french

This is on the site