I am confused on what is considered legal when it comes to sharing music files. Is it completely illegal or is the use of limewire, for example, OK to get music off of other people?

These threads discuss about that: http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...threadid=25129
http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...threadid=26737
http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...threadid=23701

So even though this is a P2P network of file-sharing, technically it is NOT legal and I could in some way get in trouble for any music that I download?

Using LW is legal. Using p2p apps is legal. Dwnlding material iusing p2p apps is legal so long as it's not copyright. If you're wanting to dwnld the latest movie to hit the cinema, then I think there could be some unhappy company people. If you're dwnlding music that's not copyright (& there's lots of music out there that's not copyright) then there's nothing to be concerned about. Dare I say it, if you were dwnding a rare recording that nobody even remembers anymore, then you probably shouldn't be to conscious. But that's a personal opinion only.