"Yes, I believe it is, in the UK. Well, you did ask."

Well, it may or may not be illegal by definition but I think it is definitely to the benefit of some artists as they get exposure. And it could be termed 'educational' as it is educating in the music of a band that you might otherwise not have had heard. Also, when you feed back 'criticim' to your friend then that is another reason why it is legal i.e. it is being reviewed. Thirdly I could always claim I was sending the CD back to her and it was just borrowed ...

I definitely bought Karine Polwarts, Suns Coming Over the Hill after hearing a track on a friends compilations.

Downloading individual tracks from the Internet without permission is illegal though, so I think my arguments might not suffice in a court of law .... "The Queen versus Jiggers in the case of the Folk Music Compilation CD that his Friend gave him". Verdict ---- GUILTY