YouTube has never allowed users to download videos from the site and probably never will, but now KickYouTube helps out with that issue.
KickYouTube allows users to download YouTube videos right from their browsers in a few different formats including AVI and FLV. All you have to do is simply type “kick” between the www. and youtube. Here is the url for the video introducing KickYouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_F3kI3a-WE To download the video via KickYouTube you would insert the kick so that the new url would appear as: http://www.kickyoutube.com/watch?v=N_F3kI3a-WE
The service will obviously not be around for too long seeing as about 2/3 of its name is straight up copyright infringement, but for while it lasts it seems interesting. The site also takes a while to load, presumably from traffic overload and cheap servers so if you’re waiting for a video to load you may have to reload a couple times.
For Mac users like myself I have always used TubeTV which can download and convert videos right from YouTube, it’s indispensible. There are also many similar Windows tools for this.
YouTube subtly debuted the new 16:9 widescreen format videos on their site. YouTube had previously used the 4:3 or square looking video, but the new changes allow for an easier viewing experience since most movies and videos are currently played in widescreen.
Older YouTube videos formatted for 4:3 will still play fine, but there will be more of a border since they do not take up as much space as the 16:9 widescreen format does. Due to the change, the YouTube webpage will now have a width of 960 to accommodate the video player.
YouTube, a Google-owned website, has entered into agreement with MGM to offer full-length movies and television shows on their website. MGM will start the partnership by offering episodes of the original “American Gladiators.”
These movies will be played alongside ads on YouTube. Since these videos would be free to watch the concept may have a lot of success, although as one comment pointed out, the quality on YouTube is nowheres near what I would want to have when watching a movie.
