The quality of bootlegs copies (MP3's,etc..) are pretty bad. I know some will chime in saying "oh they sound good to me", well thats because one, you grew up listening to crappy ripped mp3's so thats how you perceive music. Or two, you have forgotten the sound of quality music played back on vintage or hi end gear. Listen to a commercial Vinyl LP or Reel to Reel on GOOD equipment and you will shit your pants. Compare those to CD's and the fidelity is still better. Yes you may have a few pops and or tape hiss, but so much more pleasing to the ears. Now Super CD's or DVD Audio dics are quite nice, especially the ones with high end "Burr-Brown" converters. But they still cant match vinyl played on good equipment. Thats why there is a big surge in artists releasing vinyl !!! Plus it helps support them better. In return for buying the vinyl many offer free downloads of the mp3's.
If you want the best quality for cheap, then buy a used cd off ebay or a local music store that offers used cd's. Then buy a nice soundcard with great converters and ripp the cd's. I just bought 6 new cd's off ebay or $23 shipped. Stuff I couldnt get on vinyl.
As far as copyrights go here is a link to info. Its way more than 25 years. http://www.pdinfo.com/Copyright-Law/Copyright-Law.php