In particular what are you looking to download? If its just music, then I suggest googling music blogs. Thats my option and thats what I use. Its safe and you get the best quality plus the full length CD.
I used to utilize limewire until it became bogus and viruses flooded the system. Now you can hardlly download a song without getting a trojan of some sort. I heard of a new version of limewire though called "Frostwire" I guess its the better program than limewire, but still I would use blogs.