The first time I DL'ed a pirated version of a game was when I got NFS 3, since the demo had only two cars (similar type IIRC) and one level it didn't say much about the game and whether different cars handled differently.
I spent about 15$ downloading it with my ISDN line due to EA's inability to let me know what the game would be like, since I liked it I bought it. (and have bought all the following up to and including NFS Underground)

About the topic that cracked are better, I got Übersoldier via a subscription service (you got a game a month at a decent price) and it wouldn't work with the CD-key, so to be able to even try the legal copy I owned I had to get a cracked exe...

That "there are X amount of illegal copies hence we lose that amount of cash" phrase is something I've been annoyed by for quite a long while.
It's been used by Adobe about Photoshop too, how many do they think are prepared to spend that kind of money for manipulating photos? (especially when there are similar programs for a tenth of the price and very good free ones too)

I'm about as far from a pir8 as you can come, but I do get some full games to check them out when the demos are worthless and I also get the occasional music CD to make sure that it's something I want to have.
I've been screwed enough times and have wasted more than enough cash on substandard products I've bought just because the previous game in the series/CD from the artist was great.

I'll add a couple too.
Unreal, when you're at the end of a long hallway and you see the lights go out one by one, towards you, then when it's all dark you hear sounds of monsters in front of you, on your only way back.

Vampire the masquerade: Bloodlines, the first visit to the haunted house is stuck in my mind.
It starts to build the haunted atmosphere already when you reach the entrance and the light explodes and never lets go. (very well executed sequence all the way, very scary)