IRC's not so bad once you get the hang of it... It's a bit intimidating at first but really, IRC guides and walkthroughs are your friends. All you really need to do is set up an fserve (which you really don't need to do but it gives you priority in downloading so it's good) and learn the basic commands for accessing an fserve and getting files. I totally recommending just sitting down one night and working through it because it really doesn't take that long to learn.