You're breaking the law by downloading licensed music (which is what's on most of these networks) when you use torrents/p2p etc... It's as simple as that. The debate (for me) lies whether artists and record labels should charge as much as they do. I think you'll find if albums costed around $5 that a lot more people wouldn't resort to downloading them

As it stands you won't catch me going into a record store and paying ?12.99 (24.9343 USD) for an album.