For the last few years we’ve offered a very basic tool for downloading YouTube videos that allowed users to enter the URL of any video to immediately get a link to a downloadable file. The tool does exactly the same thing as dozens of other sites and plugins, which have emerged because YouTube has long refused to offer similar functionality through its own site. Now, in light of yesterday’s news that the site is going to begin supporting downloads for a small number of videos, YouTube has apparently decided to crack down on these tools – and it looks like they’re making an example out of us.
In the last 24 hours our tool stopped working, but every other method I’ve tried has worked fine so far, including a handful of other websites and popular Firefox extensions. It’s possible that YouTube was just disabling a certain technique of creating links to their video files that we happened to use, but it’s more likely that they singled us out (our tool has become very popular, and ranks second when you run a Google search for “download YouTube“).
When asked why our tool was being disabled, A YouTube spokesman referred us to this portion of the site’s Terms of Service (the company had a similar response when they sent us a Cease and Desist back in 2006):
Section 5. Your Use of Content on the Site
Part B. You may access User Submissions for your information and personal use solely as intended through the provided functionality of the YouTube Website. You shall not copy or download any User Submission unless you see a “download” or similar link displayed by YouTube on the YouTube Website for that User Submission.
The move isn’t particularly surprising. YouTube’s new download feature – and more importantly, the fact that it can charge for downloads – won’t become a viable cash cow unless the company can stifle these unauthorized downloads. But if this is the start of a trend then it is very premature. While you can download a handful of videos on YouTube, the vast majority of them still don’t offer that option, and users may soon be left with no alternative.
And even if YouTube can eliminate all of these tools, the downloads may well be too little, too late: most people already use iTunes, Amazon, or Netflix for their video downloads, and while YouTube may get a massive amount of traffic, it’s unclear if many people be willing to actually start paying for the brief clips that litter the site.
I guess they want to start making money from theirs ,
Youtube suing Techcrunch for copyright infringement?
This is the mother of all ironies.
Anjali Sen
RTFA. You’re definitely not a “smart babe.”
So whatever happened to the lawsuit Youtube filed against you? I thought Youtube had gotten their lawyers all after you and Mike Arrington acted real tough that they were going to fight in court?
Did Youtube decide it would be easier to shut you guys down.
Why youtube has disabled this? I think the information in internet which are very important for people should be shared. I do use get-youtube-movie to down load chinese culture video. What youtube want? I can spend all my money to pay my download if only that is a must, really. But must not I? How and where must I pay? Is that wise?
That really make my research about great Chinese is pausing. To fight in court? That’s OK. I need my research tools back. That’s all
Hi you tube you want a lot of money? Ok take all my money then let me to down load Han Chinese Culture video (especially han fu). How much you want? I will pay with great price if that a must. But, is that really really a must? I don’t believe that is a must.
All you have to do to download youtube vids is get the flashgot extension for firefox – one click and the entire vid is downloaded.
Can’t get easier than that.
So YouTube will be charging us money to download video content to which they do not own the copyright. Millions of people upload their own videos so they can be shared freely. This seems to be “moving the goal posts”. Should YouTube pay us for submitting the video in the first place?
You said it. They don’t own the copy rights and the videos are submitted. Boycott ! bankrupt the company.
didnt they sue you guys awhile back
YouTube Kills “Our” Video Download Tool.
playing victim again TC?
There are tons more that work. Techcrunch’s tools wasn’t that great to be honest
Here is one I’ve made recently: http://www.videodownloadr.com
Shameless advertising…?
Most likely a temporary glitch? Sounds of sky falling…
*duck*
It isn’t a glitch.
I’m have no idea how your tool works, but could they have blocked the ip address of the tool?
It doesn’t look that’s what they did (seems like they broke it some other way).
Sure they broke it some other way…whatever!
I see it going down like this:
YT_Lawyer: We want you to take down the tool.
TC_Lawyer: We don’t want to.
YT_Lawyer: Let’s go to court and measure the depth of our pockets
TC_Lawyer: Naw…we’ll just say that you guys are soooo clever we can’t figure it out…
You can use Clipta.com instead of youtube. If you download the Clipta toolbar you will be able to capture videos from any site and download them to your computer. Then you can upload them on any site (http://clipta.c...pta_toolbar.php).
Doest work on crackle.com
Whi is this newsworthy? You violated their terms of service, they slapped your wrist. Serves you right.
Whether their idea of seling video downloads is a good one is a completely separate matter (which you addressed yesterday). So this post is just pointless whining by TC.
Right on.
Why do you read it (ie. TC) then Ari? From what you are saying, anything which happens that concerns TC is not supposed to covered by them. Ari, if you had a blog and something happened which concerned you, wouldn’t you write about it? And it is not like they are writing something which is not related to technology – this is a serious development which going forward may severely limit YouTube’s value proposition to consumers who like downloading videos (like you and me). Do not use TC’s popularity against them Ari – it is as close as you can get to hypocrisy.
-Varun.
Erm that’s not what he said, read it again.
youtube put a stop to the youtube downloader tool because they saw a oppertunity to make money and just the fact that the other companys let you download them for free is a insult because if we stop sending our video to youtube they will not have anything to sell!!!
Youtube really has no place to say anything about TOS they violate it everyday. I come to Yoytube just about everyday recently to watch some full episode TV show series that I am trying to catch up on that I just started watching. One of the shows was like 3 full seasons. Then I can watch a couple of my shows a day before it shows on TV. Talk about violating terms of service. That is painting the kettle black if I ever heard it.
jason are u willing to highlight my tool aka one that still works on that page?
(pretty please)
try the open source tool xVideoServiceThief
childish
It seems to me that , as consumers of this stuff, we’ve already got it ingrained in our heads that paying even $0.01 for something that we’re used to for free is too expensive. What prevents another website from copying the YouTube formula and then users gradually make the switch over to them? Nothing. YouTube can’t afford that as they would lose a ton in ad revenue. YouTube should focus on how it can make its money from advertisers, not it’s users.
As for the matter if they have the right to do it, of course they do. I just don’t think it’s right….
http://www.zrdavis.com
If iTunes & Netflix are doing well with downloads than i have a good feeling about Google.
Youtube is still the mother of video, duration may change with time, they have many potential options of packaging content & pushing different niches.
I think it’d be really funny if there was a little error somewhere and you are flattering yourselves.
But I guess if you aren’t flattering yourselves, they got the reaction they were looking for.
(sorry that’s kinda mean)
Video rippers have been around as long as YouTube itself, so it does seem that they’re singling out what may be the first download tool to really go mainstream. Of course the announcement of paid downloads is not a coincidence either.
I see this as YouTube for the iTunes generation, who buy up hundreds of files because it’s perceived as cheap and convenient. Will it make money? Sure. But it also opens up the field for competitors to take a piece of the market (DailyMotion is gaining momentum, for instance).
You can always use Flashgot on Firefox…
Pedro,
The larger point, which I feel Jason is trying to bring out here is that what would happen if YouTube starts actively blocking third party tools (like Flashgot) and websites to promote their own downloading feature. Maybe TC is just the start – since they are a popular blog, YouTube may want to send out the message (of not taking video downloads for granted) through them. It is not about whether you can use an alternate tool to download the videos – it is about whether YouTube will actively try to resist video downloads (through any means) from their site in the future.
-Varun
I get a kick out of companies that post media files on their sites so people can view them and then they try to prevent visitors from downloading them again. The truth is, they’ve already been downloaded by the time you look at them, so what’s the big deal? Take a look in you browser’s cache and you’ll find every media file your browser has downloaded for you to view recently.
Isn’t it common knowledge that data must already be downloaded before people can view it???
Because High Quality (HQ) and High Definition (HD), doesn’t get cache into the browser. Only the poor low quality.
Nope … Just look better at cache and you will figure it out how it works … Just i hope that you do not expect to find a .flv file there , it is an .flv format but with strange filenames…
Varun,
I’ve just made a quick comment, without making myself clear. My bad;
What I’ve wanted to say was: at least for those who use Firefox, you can use Flashgot, since it gives the URL for flv videos that it finds on pages (not just youtube). In other words, it’s like the same “path” which flash players use to download the video.
So Flashgot isn’t like a site-specific tool, but just a facility (ok you may call it tool) to download flv videos found on embedded flash objects, since it works on any site with such flash objects.
But ok, downloading from a site tool like TC is more comfortable than using a specific browser and an extension on top of it.
Apart from downloading tools: yes, I think youtube want to send that message, just because getting the direct download URL means no ads, meaning no revenue for youtube. I got it!
Pedro Leite.
YouTube is down right now… Karma’s a bitch.
Cool Python script to download vids, used it today with no problems – http://www.arra...gi3/youtube-dl/
seems like they figured they could get more press taking you down before working on keepvid,etc
I’m not sure I want them to sell downloads of my videos without me getting some compensation as well…
YouTube is very slow tonight!
Nice melodramatic image and article tone, there.
Woe is me
You guys gotta try Sucubus. They blocked sucubus last night too but the yworked around it within like 30 minutes. Check it out at http://www.sucub.us
It’s for windows only
Killer program, makes me wanna jizz my pants
With this new download/pay feature, the smartest thing they could possibly do is monetize music videos. Nobody is going to pay money for “David After The Dentist”… at least I hope not.
come back mike and sack these idiot posters
Screw youtube. Just use a firefox greasemonkey extension.
I give step by step instructions on how to use it in a blog entry that I created for my site tubecynic.com
http://tubecynic.com/?p=84
Youtube can only stop computer-inept people from downloading their videos for free.
This new feature can hardly kill download tools for Youtube,I think.For one thing,not all of the videos can be downloaded by default,for another thing, with some download tools you can download video from all kinds of sites besides youtube,as well as tweaking the video page style.
Try this tool called http://www.online.movavi.com . I found this one to be pretty sweet. Takes time though.
I think google (youtube owner) don’t want any 3rd party beat them..
I think google (youtube owner) don’t want any 3rd party beat them..N we have to respect their tos.
Anybody can download videos from flash based video sites like you tube without any services. The videos will be caching in your computer, just copy them and rename to .flv .
High Quality (HQ) and High Definition (HD), doesn’t get cache into the browser. Only the poor low quality.
Crybaby or interesting tech news?
YouTube setting up paying downloads IS a good idea.
I think they want to start making money for downloading from youtube. what’s wrong?
What amazes me is how YouTube found time to block your download tool because a quick look at the YouTube community group reveals dozens of YouTube bugs that they haven’t even fixed yet.
Maybe they just changed something and tool does not work any more until fixed. I do not think they r going to make downloading paid.
Just use a bookmark:
“javascript:window.location.href%20=%20′http://youtube.com/get_video?video_id=’%20+%20swfArgs['video_id']%20+%20′&t=’%20+%20swfArgs['t'];”
via http://zmarn.zm...unplug/Youtube/
oh ,why google does that,No wonder I have trouble using tools from downloadyoutubevideos.org that I ussually use to download my favorite “seo presentation and finance news from the famous author,I dont know why google do this ,but I hope when the restrictions is held ,they dont stop there own you tube downloader add on that I think it is build with the “head of google own cyber laboratory
What the hell is wrong with TC, you are giving urself more credit than you are due. I dont think you are so important in google’s eyes tat they need to break just your stupid tool, when there are lots of good tools out there, which are much better than yours.
And the what the F do u care if they will monetize their downloads, you guys do something productive and try to make a better tool, which wont be broken so easily and blog about that.
Mine is working perfectly fine for all formats, be it flv, 3gp or MP4,
http://www.hack...ideo-downloader
(shameless self plug
, but it is actually working, so…)
it seems clear to me that YouTube will expand to PPV and beyond. As far as downloads the Music Labels probably see them as a viable counter-balance to iTunes, and potentially as a replacement for “Total Music” which I convenientlhy blogged about here:
http://www.dfme...-bye-total.html
Coolest youtube video idea is:
http://www.kissyoutube.com/
When watching a video just add “kiss” before youtube.com in the url – it will forward to a script that will download the current video.
actually, the download tool hasn’t worked for weeks.
Keep posting those star trek images….fkn lol
Its posts on TC like this that turned me from an avid reader to stopping by maybe once a month. Just a bunch of arrogant, bitchy, crybabies. Glad to see that at least half of the people who responded to this whinny article agree with me. Complaining that YouTube shut down a crap feature because it did violate the TOS which is very clear? Come on guys and gals. That is pathetic.
and u sir r a twat.
YT, see HULU as a threat as others, the download monetization coincides with the piratebay law suite, MTV, YT and the likes all feel that with torrents out the way, they can finally make money.
Only the model will work from and CPM base but artists no the CPM con,
This last hopefull push by the media moguls, should be the last lesson in greed does not work.
Replay Media Catcher is another great way to download (and convert) YouTube videos, as well as videos from 1000s of other sites. And because it runs from your PC, it will never be blocked.
http://applian....ownload-videos/
The client based approach will NEVER be blocked. Programs like Replay Media Catcher will always work, since they cannot be blocked based upon IP address.
More tech info here:
http://blog.app...be_crackin.html
I use http://www.pwnyoutube.com and that still works. All you have to do is add pwn to the beginning of the youtube page you are viewing and it will take you to a new page that will let you download the video you were just viewing.
Great post TC, YT can know forward all this info to their developers, to disable all download software.
Download from youtube is without meaning.
(sarcasm) That’s the smartest thing I’ve ever heard! (/sarcasm)
I hate streaming (stuck on 56k most of the week) so downloading was a way to watch videos more than once without waiting for my horrendous load times each time.
If I can watch the frickin’ video for free, I should be able to download it for free too.
Some smart guy will find a way to make youtube pay