Saturday, January 29, 2011

Use YouTube as an mp3 archive.

YouTube has a very wide array of videos, music videos, and songs, but have you ever wondered how you can save them to your computer to enhance portability?

There are great programs out there such as YouTube Downloader that are designed to allow the user to download raw videos from YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo Video, and other sites, and later convert it to ipod mp4, wmv, or even mp3.  This is one way to download high quality videos and mp3s from YouTube.

If you don't want the video itself, you can go directly to a YouTube mp3 conversion site which downloads and converts the video directly on the server so you can download the mp3 alone to your computer.

  • The simplest of these sites is http://www.youtube-mp3.org/, which has minimal ads and two easy options: download or share.
    • This site appears to save the mp3s of all previously converted videos, so many times you won't even have to wait for a download button to appear.
  • Another powerful YouTube to mp3 conversion site is http://www.listentoyoutube.com/.  Although there are a few more steps to go through, it implements a very consistent, fast speed when downloading and converting the mp3.