Official Youtube Downloading

YouTube in the past few days has cleaned up their UI. Although their font is a little small, it seems overall to be an improvement. Anyway, I was watching a video by KipKay (who is really amazingly awesome), when I noticed a new button on the "Favorite -- Share -- Playlist -- Flag" bar: "Download ($0.99)". Apparently, YouTube partners can now provide the option for viewers to download the videos for a dollar.

YouTube, this is idiotic. Here's why:

1. It's too narrow.
I can only download videos in MP4 format. What about MOV? AVI? FLV?

2. It's too late.
Is YouTube somehow oblivious to the existence of hundreds of websites that already do this? Here are just a few websites that let you download a YouTube file:

• http://www.kissyoutube.com/
• http://keepvid.com/
• http://vixy.net/
• http://kej.tw/flvretriever/
• http://javimoya.com/blog/youtube_en.php
• http://idesktop.tv/

The last website is my personal favorite, due to ease of use and variety of download formats.

3. 99 cents? Are you kidding me?
First off, all the websites I list above are free to use. Second, who pays a dollar for media anymore? Movies are pirated, music is internally recorded, and YouTube videos can be downloaded in a bazillion other ways.

I can hardly see anyone paying for YouTube videos anytime soon. YouTube, go back to ads. This won't work.

Last bit on Internal Recording for a while, I swear

So I went ahead and put the tutorials up on Instructables. It should be easier now. (Note: the PC one still needs some work.)

Mac Version
PC Version

Internal Recording for the PC

Finally, I've found it! (This has been around for a while, but whatever. I just found it now.)

How to internally record audio on a PC:

1. Make sure you have Audacity on your computer.

2. Go to Recording Controls (Control Panel --> Sounds and Audio Devices --> Audio --> Sound Recording --> Volume...)

3. Click Options --> Properties, and make sure that Stereo Mix is checked in the list of available recording inputs, and that Volume is adjusted for "Recording."

4. Click "OK," and under the Stereo Mix slider, click "Select" and raise the Stereo Mix volume all the way up.

That's it! You can now record internally.

For more help, click here.

Have fun!

Internal Recording - Update

I've managed to hack together an application (for Macs only, sorry) which automates most of the IR process.

You still need Audacity and Soundflower in order to run the program, but now try my app, downloading it from here.

Lemme know if it doesn't work. That's certainly possible.

UPDATE: It's up and working! Yay! *parties*

Internal Recording

I dislike torrents, mainly because I'm impatient. I mean, they're great for things like games, but when I just want to listen to some Bob Dylan, it's ineffective.

I little while back I find a website called GrooveShark, which allows me to listen to a huge collection of mainstream music for free. From online, that is. downloads are 99 cents a pop.

I was rather bummed out until I read about and straightened out a nice little solution to this problem. Basically, I set up a simple internal recording system for my Mac (sorry, PC users, I haven't figured out the Windows equivalent for this).

Here's what you'll need:
1. GrooveShark, open (don't bother to download the free listening software unless yu have a really slow connection; just stream it from your browser)

2. Audacity: if you don't have this, get it. It's a wonderful (free) audio-editing app.

3. SoundFlower: this is the essential piece. If you can't get this, just go back to your torrents. An it's free, too.

That's it. Now you've got to configure.

1. Launch Audacity. Under Preferences, click "Recording" and set the Input to "SoundFlower (2 channels)."

2. Launch System Preferences-->Sound. Under "Sound Effects," make sure that the box labelled "Play user interface sound effects" is unchecked. Under "Output" and "Input," set "Soundflower (2 channels)" as the device.

3. In Audacity, click "Record."

4. Launch GrooveShark in your browser of choice. Play whatever songs you want.

5. When the songs finish, in Audacity click "Stop."

6. Sleect the parts of the audio that make up the sons, and click File-->"Export Selection to MP3..."

7. Fill in the asked-for data, export, and open the mp3 files in iTunes. Tada!

Note: This system is known as internal recording, because SoundFlower is acting as a virtual sound card and redirecting the outbound audio back in as input. In other words, you can record in this manner anything that comes out of your speakers.

If you can figure this out on a PC, let me know!

DISCLAIMER: Do not use this system to illegally steal music and distribute it. This is for educational purposes only. Also, be aware that copyrighted music streamed and saved in this manner can be used only for "personal use only."