This is indeed handy, and vi folks should know how to do this too. In vim (my vi of choice), it goes like this:

qa        # start recording to buffer a;
          # your choice of buffers: [0-9a-zA-Z"]

q         # end macro recording
@a        # execute macro a
100@a     # execute macro a 100 times
[download]

Same thing, really... only fewer keystrokes. {grin, duck, run}