Amsterdam is a perfect place to have fun for a week or two, and I can not say it is a bad place to live. Violence??? Never had any problems, at least not more then in Utrecht or any other city.
The club scene is great! The tourists never bothered me.
Btw everybody come check it out:
http://www.adultonlineeurope.com/
http://www.europemeetsusa.com/explorer/index.html
Then you can see that Amsterdam is a great place!