Computers & Electronics

What is the best YouTube downloader (paid or free)?

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  • Jul 28th, 2017 4:00 pm
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Apr 21, 2004
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What is the best YouTube downloader (paid or free)?

I tried the ss before youtube trick but I think it's limited to one download at a time and I'd rather be able to queue multiple MV downloads / conversions to mp3 .

This seems to point to AllMyTube as being great and I think I can get it for around $25 CAD. Just wondering if there are better ways to grab some of these MV's off YouTube. Thanks in advance.

http://www.toptenreviews.com/software/m ... be-review/
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Jr. Member
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Oct 27, 2016
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Any video converter can do it (free).
Freemake has always been my choice, but lately their pay platform kinda sucks. They still do have a standalone Youtube downloader program and video converter. I like that you can queue multiple and batch convert, you can even join them if you want with 1 button which is handy for playlists.
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So you are saying most free video converter can queue or batch downloads? That's about the only feature I want besides downloading a copy of the MV perhaps in MP4 format and making a MP3 format to listen to in the car.
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No need to pay for one. I looked recently and for what you need the paid converters are overkill. Give Freemake (Video downloader + converter) and Any video converter a try and see which you like best. Only go paid if you need fancy editing features.

Note: Freemake does bundle some 'extra' stuff with their install (not malware) but I suggest using Unchecky with it and in general to protect from those install check boxes ;)

Freemake Video downloader
Any video converter
Unchecky
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Thanks Freddy for saving me some $. :)
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Apr 21, 2004
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Damn Avira Antivirus doesn't like Freemake at all. Will settle for the Any Video Converter.
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Jan 6, 2011
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JDownloader.

Batch operation and allows you to set default resolution and format.
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You can pause Avira during the install as long as you are using Unchecky. It's probably the install that Avira is not liking because of the bundled stuff. Unchecky will prevent it and Avira will probably be fine with the program itself running?
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Apr 18, 2009
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Freddydood wrote: No need to pay for one. I looked recently and for what you need the paid converters are overkill. Give Freemake (Video downloader + converter) and Any video converter a try and see which you like best. Only go paid if you need fancy editing features.

Note: Freemake does bundle some 'extra' stuff with their install (not malware) but I suggest using Unchecky with it and in general to protect from those install check boxes ;)

Freemake Video downloader
Any video converter
Unchecky
i used to use freemake before, but stopped using it for the following reasons:
- seems like the new version will require you to pay if you want to convert to mp3
- for video conversions they put a watermark

i use youtube-DLG since
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Oct 27, 2016
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I know eh, I still use an older version before URL downloading was split into another app entirely. I'd happily buy the software if the pricing made sense. Pay to add subtitles... pay again to remove watermark... pay again if you want to convert fast!
It became hugely popular and monetizing it is fine, but the way they're doing it just sucks. It's still excellent software and I use it, I just had to find ways around their restrictions. I use the converter with joiner sometimes so I do more than just dl from Youtube.

Anyway, understand why you moved away. I really hope they come up with a simple and straightforward way of monetization rather than this seemingly in-app purchase crap.

Edit: I just noticed Any video converter has a join all button for joining videos and also batch downloads well from Youtube. Looks like this may be my Freemake replacement,
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Aug 5, 2015
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Jdownloader is free works with youtube and about 100 other sites.
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Mar 31, 2017
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jdownloader for sure. But with a caveat - the client is made from java, a very insecure programming language, so you should only be running that in a sandbox with very strict instructions of what it can access on your hdd.
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Feb 28, 2005
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x5 JDownloader 2
Client at: Tangerine, VoIP.ms, Virgin Mobile
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Aug 2, 2004
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LongLiveRFD wrote: JDownloader.

Batch operation and allows you to set default resolution and format.
Another vote for JDownloader. Works really well and it separates the video and audio files too
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badOne wrote: jdownloader for sure. But with a caveat - the client is made from java, a very insecure programming language, so you should only be running that in a sandbox with very strict instructions of what it can access on your hdd.
Seems I can use Sandboxie but I will have to read up further
https://forums.sandboxie.com/phpBB3/vie ... hp?t=13109
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Jan 15, 2010
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BobSagget wrote: Yeah this is what I use. Here's a nice front-end that utilizes youtube-dl

http://hexotic.net/software/ytdownloader/

This is completely free. Don't pay for software that downloads youtube videos OP!
I also you use Youtube-DL. The power of it is that it can be scripted. I have a script that runs on my computer every X hours and automatically downloads any new videos in my subscriptions or in my watch later list. So all I do is on a video is add it to my watch later list and it will auto download when the script runs.
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GavinCampbell wrote: I also you use Youtube-DL. The power of it is that it can be scripted. I have a script that runs on my computer every X hours and automatically downloads any new videos in my subscriptions or in my watch later list. So all I do is on a video is add it to my watch later list and it will auto download when the script runs.
Interesting.

Where can I find similar scripts?

Thanks.

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