AfterDawn: News

YouTube goes offline - free and paid downloads

YouTube has introduced free and paid downloads -- maybe an another step towards a more commercially viable service. Both of them are currently in a test phase which means that only approved YouTube partners can add downloadable videos. Also a new "Purchases" tab has been added under "My Videos".

YouTube partners are allowed set a small download fee for their submitted videos. In addition, the author can choose a license for the video from several options, including Creative Commons and Public Domain. The money transactions are handled by Google Checkout.



All the downloaded videos are in MP4 format and the paid videos are not protected by DRM. Therefore both free and paid videos can be played on variety of media players and devices.

Purchasing videos is currently limited to the United States but free downloads are available worldwide.

If you'd like to save other than YouTube partners' videos to your HDD, this is the guide for you.






Written by: Matti Robinson @ 13 Feb 2009 7:31

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• 8 comments

• bobino

  cool

  13.2.2009 12:28 #1

• Coyote42

  You can already download youtube videos in mp4 format by using pwnyoutube.
  Merely type any youtube address, but add pwn before youtube
  
  i.e.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1UPMEmCqZo&fmt=22
  would be
  http://www.pwnyoutube.com/watch?v=q1UPMEmCqZo&fmt=22

  13.2.2009 13:09 #2

• gallagher

  The latest RealPlayer gives you the option to download most videos, including YouTube.

  13.2.2009 14:14 #3

• Xplorer4

  Originally posted by Coyote42: You can already download youtube videos in mp4 format by using pwnyoutube.Theres tons of those sites out, but personally I would much rather be bale to download it straight from youtube then messing with a second site.

  13.2.2009 14:40 #4

• ZippyDSM

  It still dose not make this
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBOMXC5M-fw
  look as good as this
  
  http://zippydsmlee.net/videos/newhumper.avi
  , thus it fails...

  13.2.2009 17:08 #5

• borhan9

  Originally posted by gallagher: The latest RealPlayer gives you the option to download most videos, including YouTube.I totally agree. I currently am using real player and it works a treat. There are ways to get around the $$$ too.

  13.2.2009 17:23 #6

• IPRFenix

  Firefox (as well as other browsers) have had many plugins that let you download the videos from practically every stream site in existence, for a very, very long time now.
  
  Video and sound quality for Youtube are still pathetic compared to the majority of the alternatives. So even without having said plugins, this is still hardly anything to rave about.

  13.2.2009 17:35 #7

• yushi

  Originally posted by Coyote42: You can already download youtube videos in mp4 format by using pwnyoutube.
  Merely type any youtube address, but add pwn before youtube
  
  i.e.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1UPMEmCqZo&fmt=22
  would be
  " target="_blank">http://www.pwnyoutube.com/watch?v=q1UPMEmCqZo&fmt=22
  
  You can download the videos using many addons to your browsers,but they are in bad quality.The original file will be in high quality as written in the picture.

  15.2.2009 23:55 #8