My son just got an MP3 player. One of his friend's told him about Limewire...a website where you can download music for free.

I looked at it, and there is something there about sharing files. If we sign up, and download songs, does that mean that people will then be able to download songs from our computer???

I don't understand how it works. Is it safe?

Anyone have experience with Limewire?

No, it's not safe. LimeWire is absolutely riddled with SpyWare. If you run an anti-spyware program, like AdAware, and clean everything off your computer, LimeWire will no longer function. (At least, that's the way it used to be. My kids used to run it, but I got rid of it.)

If you don't mind the SpyWare, I guess running LimeWire would be OK as long as you're paying for the music and not pirating it. There are other music sites and programs which I think are better. iTunes is actually pretty good and has the best catalogue, hands down (unless you want to download Beatles tunes).

The main disadvantage of iTunes is the music is in "M4P" format which most MP3 players can't use. (Only iPods and the iTunes player can play M4P files). Therefore, in order to listen to songs downloaded from iTunes on a typical MP3 player, you have to burn them to a CD where they are converted to WAV files, then convert them to MP3, then copy them to an MP3 player.

Amazon.com has a pretty good music downloading service and the songs are in MP3 format. You might consider that option over LimeWire.

How about if you're running it on a Mac? Most spyware is written for Windows.

Disclaimer: I'm only discussing technical issues, not legal/moral ones. Downloading/sharing copyrighted content may be illegal in your jurisdiction or violate your moral codes. That's not the purpose of this thread or forum.

I'd recommend against LimeWire or any other ad-supported P2P client, as they are pretty much all a) riddled with adware/spyware and b) very poorly designed. For individual file sharing (snagging a single MP3) I like the open-source KCeasy (http://www.kceasy.com/) multi-protocol client. After installing KCeasy, you can add a plugin for the FastTrack network (http://gift-fasttrack.berlios.de/) (better known as Kazaa). For large files (movies, entire albums, etc.) BitTorrent is much more effective. I use the excellent free μTorrent (http://www.utorrent.com/) BitTorrent client.

Again, I don't recommend or suggest any of the above; I'm simply stating what I use. Take that for whatever you think it's worth.

How about if you're running it on a Mac? Most spyware is written for Windows.

Good point. It's probably harder for SpyWare to run on a Mac because the operating system is actually secure. Although, I wouldn't recommend going out and buying a Mac just to download music.

Limewire is 1.) illegal in most places and 2.) very dangerous for your computer because it has a.) spyware and b.) the capacity to download viruses attached to files in other computers. I had a friend who had it on their computer. That computer was extremely slow and constantly crashing because of all the viruses. Limewire basically opens up several ports, which allow people to view your MP3 files (and vice versa.) Open ports can be used to exchange viruses and for hackers to find weak spots. Also, file sharing can easily lead to viruses.

I recommend against Limewire on PCs AND Macs. Macs are just as vulnerable as PCs. The language most viruses are written can't be read by Macs so some don't matter, but many viruses can still harm your harddrive and Macs can still be vulnerable to some spyware.

The main reason I recommend against Limewire though is because it is illegal because it is "free" downloading without copyright. I know that wasn't one of your concerns, but your IP address on your computer can be traced to you specifically; this means that any illegal downloading can and will lead back to you specifically.

The main reason I recommend against Limewire though is because it is illegal because it is "free" downloading without copyright. I know that wasn't one of your concerns, but your IP address on your computer can be traced to you specifically; this means that any illegal downloading can and will lead back to you specifically.
To clarify: the software is not illegal in itself. Use of the software to download copyrighted material may be illegal in some jurisdictions and may lead to the consequences you mention.

Thanks everybody!:)

Limewire is definately OUT!!!!