The program itself is not dangerous, but the things that are downloadable from it are frequently virus ridden.
The safer alternative would be to use a torrent, which does the same thing. Except with a torrent you can read reviews and see what is dangerous and what isn't.
I suggest using utorrent (the program) and piratebay.org for finding stuff
Dont get lime wire. Its safe but it sucks! Get utorrent. This opens and downloads the torrents. Then go to sites like btjunkie. To avoid viruses get avast anti virus. its free and amazing! Best anti virus i have ever had. This is what ive been using for a couple years and never had a virus
Everyone else who answered this question is a fool! Limewire is not safe to download at all! Once you download it you cannot delete it, and viruses slip through into your computer, even if you are not excessively using the program. Most music downloaded from there is unsafe, and can cause your computer to crash. It's been reported on the news several times. My own computer crashed because of Limewire.
www.frostwire.com
It's a new and improved version, and it's completely safe and takes up less space. I have been using this for a year and have had no problems at all. Try it out instead of limewire, I beg of you.
Bit torrent - btjunkie.org - mininova
Frostwire or something, can't remember.
++ you could get a virus like most things when you download something. Just ask yourself this. Is it worth the risk? If it is, download it. If it's not, don't download it.
bittorrent, or utorrent are so much safer than limewire, but still give you mostly the same content. If you have a mac, 99.9% of the viruses of limewire will not affect you, just cuz macs dont get PC viruses. limewire itself is safe, but the content you download is almost all viruses. they pass from computer to computer, spreading it everywhere.