Yes, this was how I was able to watch 200 Naruto episodes before there was streaming video. Good times torrenting all these RealPlayer files on my 50KB/s DSL connection/
My network provider capped my bandwidth to 1mbps because of this for like five years in the early to mid 2000s. They said I used more bandwidth than an entire apartment building (not a small one). Very early days of mainstream pirating. It was a makeshift internet provider that used (stole, I guess) internet access from a nearby university.
