[X4U] youtube

[John McClernan]

On Apr 4, 2008, at 7:59 AM, Eugene wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 03, 2008 at 10:50:36PM CDT, John McClernan  
> <mcclernan1 at comcast.net> wrote:
>> On Apr 3, 2008, at 9:16 AM, Eugene wrote:
>>> On Wed, Apr 02, 2008 at 07:18:41PM CDT, John McClernan
>>> <mcclernan1 at comcast.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> All you really have to do is to hold down your "option" key and  
>>>> click on
>>>> that URL in the Activity window. It will start downloading right  
>>>> away.
>>>> The
>>>> downloaded file will be "get_video" but you can change it to any  
>>>> name you
>>>> want, then add .flv to it and it will play in QuickTime after  
>>>> you have
>>>> installed the Perian plugin. When it opens in QuickTime, you can  
>>>> "Save
>>>> As..." a self-contained movie (.mov) or just leave it as .flv
>>>
>>> It's still too many steps.  And even though this works for  
>>> YouTube and
>>> the CGI app named "get_video", it does not work for non-YouTube  
>>> sites
>>> that use other CGI app names.
>>
>> Okay, name one.
>
> How about three?
>
> megavideo.com
> dailymotion.com
> metacafe.com
>
>> I just finished a podcast for my graduate class and I used  
>> downloaded video
>> from more than a dozen sites OTHER THAN YouTube, because YouTube  
>> is blocked
>> in my school, so YouTube was not an option for me. I used the  
>> method I
>> described and the podcast was presented tonight in class and the  
>> videos
>> were beautiful.
>
> Glad you found the video quality to be good enough.  But this is
> irrelevant and tangental to the valid criticism that the specific
> download method mentioned is not only Safari-specific, but still
> takes too many steps.
>
>> Besides, you only asked for a method of downloading for YouTube.  
>> That's
>> what was provided.
>
> Not me.  That was Robert who asked for a YouTube solution.  Also,
> he never mentioned a specific browser, so the solution to use the
> Activity window in Safari is one correct method, but it is by no
> means the only method out there for Safari or any other browser.


Eugene,
My apologies, my reply should have been to Robert, I guess.

I just downloaded a video from each of those sites you mentioned -  
DailyMotion, MegaVideo and MetaCafe - using Safari and the Perian  
plugin that I recommended, and played them in QuickTime. So the  
method is NOT just YouTube specific. It may be Safari specific, but,  
so what? Robert asked the question on a Mac forum, so he must have  
Safari available to use. He can go with whichever recommendation he  
chooses, yours, mine or someone else's.

To say that there are "too many steps" I feel that is an arbitrary  
assessment. I do not find it to be too many at all. It takes but  
seconds.

Use whatever method works for you, I have settled on this one. It was  
one of the first ones that became widely available, so I'll stick  
with what has been working for me. The steps are not cumbersome, they  
take only seconds to execute and I'm not a lazy person. I work fast  
and crank out tons of content while others wallow in distraction.  
Using this method does not make me less efficient and I'm happy with it.
Everyone should use what makes them the most comfortable and gets the  
job done efficiently.
FWIW, that's my 2¢.
Have a blessed weekend,
John