How to Save and Download Videos from YouTube
Posted By Grant C. Roberts on April 8, 2010
When you sign up for the YouTube (YT) service you’re required to agree to follow their rules and regulations. Most downloaded programs on the Internet require the same promise — that you’ll play by their rules or not play at all. If you don’t check the little box saying you agree with their terms of service, they won’t let you in. In order to download YouTube videos you must first agree NOT to download them (terms of service forbid it), and then go against your word and do it anyhow.
If you didn’t read the terms of service maybe you’re not even aware that downloading is forbidden. Well, now you know. By checking the box, you already told them that you read and understood the terms, so feigning ignorance won’t work in this case. You just have to be willing to fudge a little, kind of like going 60 in a 55 mph speed zone.
The old, “rules were made to be broken, ” axiom fits well here. Or, “what they don’t know won’t hurt them.” But the fact remains, if you decide to copy something from YouTube you’re doing it at your own risk and it’s, essentially, illegal.
There is, however, an exception to the rule. YouTube allows the original poster of a video to download it in the form of an MP4. They’ll only let you do this two or three times before the option disappears, but it comes back eventually and then you can do it again. But if you’re the one who did the upload, you probably already have a copy, so it’s kind of redundant. And it doesn’t make it possible to download someone else’s content.
Searching the keywords in the title of this article will bring up lots of programs for downloading music and video from different sites. Most are free, but some charge a slight fee for their application. Some are easy, with the only requirement to copy and paste the YT URL for whatever you want to copy and clicking the download button. Once downloaded, you simply save to your preferred destination and play it on your player.
Other programs are somewhat more involved, with the requirement that you change the name of the file you’ve downloaded and add an extension to the file name. Some of these sites are full of banner ads and pop-ups, which can be distracting to the task at hand. Others are free of ads and seem much easier to navigate.
Trying out a few of these downloading sites proved the old KISS principle — the simpler, the better. Just putting in the URL and clicking one button to download and a couple more clicks to save was all it took. There were no problems encountered and the quality of the transfer was perfect.
If you can download YouTube videos or music it’s a great way to fill up an MP4 player or your computer hared-drive with your favorite stuff. If your intention is just to enjoy and share the videos with friends it shouldn’t be a big deal. If your purpose is geared towards somehow profiting financially from these downloads… Well, that’s a different story. Let your conscience by your guide.
If you are interested in downloading YouTube videos, you can find information on tools to download YouTube videos as well as other tools, tips, resources and best practices for online video marketing at ReelSEO.com – the online video experts.
