Video Downloading from the Web ... Solutions inside

[Shane R. Monroe]

I've seen/used a billion of these things - from browser versions to stand alones.

This one seems to work remarkably well - is very clean, easy to use. Leeches AND converts to numerous formats.

http://www.vdownloader.es/

Anyone else want to offer up what they use?

[GrilledMonkeyFat]

I use two things. Whether at Youtube, etc, I either download using RealPlayer, or Firefox has an addon called "Download Helper". Depending on the video, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I hate when there's a video I'd like to download, and you think either one is downloading...say...an 88mb file, but it's really downloading...nothing!

I get a 1.2mb file of...nothing. I just downloaded the VDownloader, and I got the same result. Downloaded, and converted nothing.

Give it a go. This is what I tried to download.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxoKWHz4x0E

It's ALF, it's safe for work.

[TripHamer]

that clip didn't work for me either.....I got an error instead.....I tried another youtube clip and it was fine.

[Shane R. Monroe]

I think for "premium content" on youPube, they stream it off a special server, making it impossible to "leech".

However, there are solutions:

http://applian.com/replay-video-capture/

I leech episodes from Nick JR with it.

[GrilledMonkeyFat]

Typical, the one thing that will probably work is one you have to pay for. When you think about it, for $39.95, instead of downloading those Youtube episodes of ALF, or whatever, you could buy the DVD instead.

I'll give the demo a shot, though.

[GrilledMonkeyFat]

Capture 2 minutes of video with the demo?!! Are you ****in kidding me!??

[ChairoNoMe]

I use Download Helper to grab videos off Youtube. Since I'm usually downloading vlogger stuff, I never have a problem with it.

They probably have some tricky DRM on the licensed stuff. But as Shane says, Applian's software programs pretty much do the trick. If you can see it and hear it, you can always have a program that records it as it's playing.

[ChairoNoMe]

Capture 2 minutes of video with the demo?!! Are you ****in kidding me!??

Well, they do want you to BUY the program. Think about it, if the demo let you download 5 minutes or more than you basically could leech any music video you wanted without compensating them.

[Shane R. Monroe]

People wonder why there isn't more quality software around ... It's because of this insane attitude going around like "What??? YOU CHARGE for it????"

Not everyone can give up hundreds of hours of development, testing, advertising, hosting and all that just to give away free software.

This sort of tool, especially - I can understand paying for. Essentially, it does what nothing else does - and that is WORTH something.

You want "youTubedownloader#23" that doesn't always work? Enjoy that for free.

I DO believe, however, that there are a couple of rules involved with distributing software online.

1) All online distributed software should be $30 or less. That's my PERSONAL sweet spot. I'll impulse at that price. Honestly - anything above that - I'll find an "extended evaluation copy" and give it a whirl. I HAVE purchased items over $30, but the ONLY reason they got the sale was because after searching high and low, I could NOT come up with anything even CLOSE to what did the job (DVDFab is a good example - it's the only program I found with the EXACT feature-set I wanted).

2) All products should have dual licensing at a MINIMUM. My workstation, and my laptop = a single user license price.

3) In most cases, there should be a commercial and personal use license. I know, there are tons of options to abuse this - but let's be honest. Charging me $40 for an httaccess/httpasswrd generator for Windows is CRAZY if I'm using it once or twice a year for my own use. Sure, this tool would be GREAT in a large hosting facility - and it should cost more for commercial use.

4) Every program should be USB'able. Every program I own, I either obtain or create my own portable version.

5) Single phone home. Fine, authenticate my key. Now, go away. No more phoning home, no more "silent alarm" checks. I don't even trust updaters anymore - I block those on the firewall because I'm just NOT SURE what they are sending.

6) ALWAYS instant delivery. Jesus, its 2009 people. Making me wait 48 hours for a key? What is this? 1996?

7) When appropriate, offer a "disposible" version. Man, there are TONS of packages out there that literally use once a year; recovery software, icon editors - stuff like that. By the SECOND time I use it, it will be out of date, asking for more money. Let me buy a single use of it and price it accordingly. I'd happily pay $5 to recover my USB drive I accidently formatted - but I ain't gonna spend $99 for it (**looks for extended eval copy**).

My point is - there are tons of ways to make money ... and surely 100 registrations at $29.99 is better than 50 registrations at $39.99, right? I hesitate to recommend ANY software over $30 to anyone (and I'm in a good position to do it). Even the mighty Directory Opus (which is well worth every penny of that $60) is outpriced to my comfort zone - where I'll really only recommend it to super-leet-power-users when really ANYONE can make excellent DAILY use out of it.

[GrilledMonkeyFat]

Maybe it's me. I just couldn't get by the fact that they're charging almost $40 for this downloader. Had I not tried the demo first and find out it didn't work like all the free stuff I had didn't work, I would have sunk $40 for nothing.

Naturally, I realize that you can't devote hundreds of hours to a product, service, or other project just to deliver a free product. Making money is important. I understand that. I am glad that there was a demo of that downloader I could try, so I can discover that it (much like the other software products or addons I've used) doesn't work on everything.

Personally, since Youtube is the more well known streaming site, that there should be a download option, so you can watch the video offline. Veoh has it, many of the other streaming sites have this feature, in some form or another. I think in some cases, some conversion is required. No problem there.

In closing, while it may sound like I, or people like myself, expect everything for free, I don't. I do believe that there are countless people out there who just hate the word "Free".

One of my wacky future predictions is that years from now, there will no longer be Free trials, Free demos, free this, free that, Free Willy, Free Parking, etc. You all think I'm nuts, but as the famous line in just about all the Star Wars movies go...

"I got a very bad feeling about this"