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Google Bars Site That Converts YouTube Songs Into MP3s

Posted by timothy on from the see-previous-article-about-streaming dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Google is apparently cracking down on a popular site that converts the music from YouTube videos into MP3s. YouTube-MP3.org has received a letter from Google, YouTube's parent company, notifying the site operators that converting videos this way violates YouTube's terms of service, according to the blog TorrentFreak, which said it has seen the letter. In addition, YouTube apparently has blocked YouTube-MP3.org's servers from accessing the site."

8 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. How stupid, and useless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    It is trivial to extract the audio from a youtube video and convert it to an mp3. There are tools on Windows, Linux, and OSX that can do that without a lot of effort. So, shutting down this site is, IMO, an exercise in futility.

    1. Re:How stupid, and useless by Razgorov+Prikazka · · Score: 3, Informative

      Linux:
      $ cd /tmp
      $ ffmpeg -i FlashFoO bar.mp3
      Done...

      --
      rm -rf --no-preserve-root / ...and let /dev/null sort them out...
    2. Re:How stupid, and useless by cpu6502 · · Score: 3, Informative

      >>>Because it is already an mp3 stream

      Usually it's an MPEG4 codec, like AAC or AACplusSBR. Converting to mp3 is a downgrade.

      --
      My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
    3. Re:How stupid, and useless by markg11cdn · · Score: 4, Informative

      Especially if it's something not many people care about. This is why people like Jason Scott (from textfiles.org) are my heroes.

      Err, I think you mean textfiles.com. Unless you meant to point at the domain squatter instead...

  2. Browser Extensions by SJHillman · · Score: 4, Informative

    What about sites that host browser extensions/add-ons/plug-ins? Opera, Chrome and Firefox all have extensions that will do this right from the YouTube page with a single click.

    1. Re:Browser Extensions by tlhIngan · · Score: 5, Informative

      Most of those actually use an interim server like the one in the article to make the conversion, so could be blocked. Even those that don't frequently have problems. Youtube keeps adjusting the way it streams the media files to try and optimize overall bandwidth use and performance, and every time they make a change it breaks the plugins for a few days. That said, I don't think they can outright block them without blocking the media itself; a browser that allowed websites to query every plugin installed would be a serious security threat.

      Actually, it's really easy to do it yourself, and it works extremely well in Firefox. It'll work with most sites and is unblockable basically. The sites it won't work with are sites that do exclusive streaming (no caching and play/pause/rewind/etc requires are handled by the server which changes its bitstream) and sites that break the video into tiny segments and the player dynamically changes the quality.

      What you need is a firefox extension called "Live HTTP Headers" that lets you see HTTP headers as they scroll by, and something like Flashblock or NoScript that prevents running of flash (HTML5 video isn't that prevalent yet and only big ones like YouTube, Vimeo and Dailymotion support it while everyone else still uses flash).

      The method is to load the page up, then open the Live HTTP Header window. Click the flash player and let it load and start the video. One of the things Live HTTP Headers will have captured is... the URL for the media (look for MIME type video/flv or video/mp4). Copy that URL and paste it in a browser tab (which also gives you cookies). If you don't have a handler, it'll ask to download. If you do, block the site temporarily and use NoScript to right-click and download it.

      This method works because it relies on the fact that most video sites retrieve video via HTTP or HTTPS (could be a Flash limitation) rather than streaming the video (which requires server work) and using HTTP/HTTPS makes it more CDN-friendly since it's a static file.

  3. And not a single f**k was given... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Cloud:
    - Keepvid: http://keepvid.com/
    - Vixy: http://vixy.net/
    - Saveyoutube: http://saveyoutube.com/
    - Savevid: http://www.savevid.com/
    - More: www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=youtube+video+download

    Firefox addons:
    - Download Flash and Video: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/download-flash-and-video/?src=search
    - YouTube Download: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-download/?src=search
    - 1-Click YouTube Video Download: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1-click-youtube-video-download/?src=search
    - Download YouTube Videos as MP4 and FLV: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/download-youtube/?src=search
    - More: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search/?q=firefox+download&appver=&platform=

    Chrome extentions:
    - YouTube Downloader: MP3 / HD Video: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hokfcbmfpgeajcgkaeigohghnkhjmcbj
    - FVD Video Downloader: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lfmhcpmkbdkbgbmkjoiopeeegenkdikp

    Manually:
    - HOWTO: Download FLV videos from YouTube manually: http://inspirated.com/2007/08/24/howto-download-flv-videos-from-youtube-manually

    Dear Google,

    give up. LOL, noobs...

    Regards,
    NotASingleF**k.

  4. Re:Funny block... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    ...a desktop app to rip the audio...

    No excuse for mousey-clicky, simply type into the command line:

    ffmpeg -i my_video_file.avi extracted_audio.mp3

    mplayer -dumpaudio my_video_file.avi -dumpfile extracted_audio.mp3