Why to download YouTube videos when you can watch them online? Well, you can’t be online all the time, and despite the majority of YouTube videos being nut-shots and Lady Gaga parodies, there is a lot of great content that you might want to download and watch offline. Whether you want to watch YouTube video on your iPod while working out, insert it into a PowerPoint presentation to add some spice, or simply download a video before it’s removed, it’s quite essential to know how to download, convert, and play YouTube videos. Here are top 3 great ways/methods to download and convert YouTube videos for entertainment, fun and work.

There are some programs and browser extensions to do this, but we’ve found that the easiest and quickest methods in this post today. These tools and methods will let you download standard quality and high-definition YouTube movies as MP4 video and MP3 audio files.

1. (‘Kiss‘) ‘Save’ Your YouTube Video URL

Earlier called kissyoutube.com, saveyoutube.com is perhaps the most popular and easiest way to save any YouTube video to your local computer. To download a YouTube video just go to saveyoutube.com, enter the youtube video URL to the textbox, hit enter, select your download option (from various file formats like flv, mp4, mp3 etc) and that’s it.

Alternately, you just need to add the word ‘save’ to the YouTube video URL and then when you press enter in your browser’s address bar it directs you to their website where you can download it as a .flv video or convert it other formats as well.

Apart from this, they have also the options to search and loop YouTube videos just by entering the YouTube URL. One thing worth keeping in mind is that this online converter requires your browser to be java enabled. So you may want to try in a java-friendly browser like Google Chrome or Safari.

2. Download Youtube Video as MP3 Audio

Would you rather want to just download the Audio in MP3 format from a YouTube videos? Though there are tons of online as well as desktop applications to do this, Listen to YouTube is a great free online tool that lets you to convert YouTube videos to mp3 format. This is an easy process and only requires you to paste a link into a field. You can choose standard or high quality output.

If you are feeling lazy then simply pick any Youtube video URL and add After a few minutes, the process will finish and you will be able to download your new mp3 file. There is no limit to how many downloads you can make with this wonderful free service.

You just put in the Youtube URL and listentoyoutube.com spits out an mp3 for you to download. How cool is that?

3. For Ubuntu (Linux) Users

If you use Ubuntu (Linux), it is pretty simple. Even though you might not realize, in Linux a copy of every Youtube video automatically gets saved in the /tmp folder. So just copy it from your temp folder. To make it even easier, you can create a one-click bookmark to my .temp folder, in Ubuntu.

Disclaimer

We are not encouraging anybody to use Youtube only for downloading videos and songs that could be purchased on Amazon, iTunes, Beatport, or any other digital outlet. These tools are only for video clips and songs that were nowhere to be found.

Moreover, according to the YouTube Terms of Service, downloading videos is not allowed. Hence, please use these tools cautiously and support your favorite artists by purchasing genuine copies of videos and music online. Online streaming services such as YouTube are one of the most popular ways to view videos. But, if you are someone looking to join a movie streaming service to watch all your favorite movies and TV series, then why not check out LOVEFiLM vs Netflix!

It may seem like a small change, but YouTube is perhaps testing the waters before dropping this video length limitation, altogether. Who knows? “Without question, the number one requested feature by our creators is to upload videos longer than 10 minutes. We’ve heard you, and today we’re pleased to announce that we’ve increased the upload limit to 15 minutes,” informs YouTube’s blog.

The main reason why YouTube added a 10 minutes limitation back in 2006 was that a lot of users uploaded full-length movies and TV shows. Now that YouTube uses a content identification software and Viacom lost the case against YouTube, Google’s video site can safely remove this arbitrary limitation. YouTube is cautious, so it will release incremental improvements.

This new ability to upload longer (yet safer) videos has been “without question, the number one requested feature” from users, Joshua Siegel, product manager for upload and video management at YouTube, wrote in a blog post. To celebrate the increased upload limit YouTube is inviting users to make a video of your ‘15 minutes of fame‘.  If you have a video ready, upload the video and tag it with “yt15minutes“. The deadline is August 4, 2010. The selected videos will be featured on the YouTube homepage in a future spotlight.

If you’re uploading a video on YouTube that was previously rejected for being too long, you’ll have to go into “My Videos” and delete it before attempting to upload it again. Thanks and happy uploading!

This weekend, an estimated 700,000 people bought the glowingly reviewed Apple iPad. Though some consumers voiced reasonable gripes, others chose to destroy, batter, or shred their new iPads (and they chose to literally break their newly bought devices; we aren’t even talking about jailbreaking an iPad here), documenting their mysterious rage on video. Are they reacting to the agonizing hype that preceded the iPad’s release? Have a look for yourself:

Apple iPad: A “Smashing Hit”!

After earning the requisite $500 by shoveling snow, Justin Kocott, 19, of Penn Hills, Pa., smashed an iPad to smithereens with a baseball bat outside a Best Buy store. He told local news reporters that he wanted to be “the first one to break an iPad because I see videos of people breaking things on YouTube like PS3 and Wiis … and I figured this one would be next.” Though he’s been called an “Apple hater,” he says he owns another iPad and “loves it.” The video quickly went viral, and has generated 1,309,274 YouTube hits already. When asked what his motivation was, Kocott only said he wanted to be the first person to smash an iPad.

However, it is not the first time that expensive items have been bought and destroyed for entertainment. Videos on the internet show the trend has in the past been aimed at iPhones, iPods, laptops and computer consoles.

Isn’t it amazing to see that while a group of people are busy doing constructive work (like developing iPad games for the Apple tablet), we have yet another group of people who are finding pleasure destroying it? It is almost a shame that the video of men destroying iPad on launch day becomes internet hit… but with over 1,309,274 views already, it also begs the question — is it actually a cleverly designed piece of Apple’s viral marketing? An Apple spokesman was unavailable for comment.

However, I think its just quid pro quo. I am often frustrated by the failure of people to understand that nothing is ever free and when you use Google’s services, you must expect to pay for it in some way. If you don’t expect that, then you are both selfish for wanting both free and high quality service and stupid for thinking that you’d get it from a private company. Any information about yourself that you give them is entirely at your discretion. Also undoubtedly, many lawsuits that Google faces are from people trying to get easy money.You get access to tons of free (no monetary cost) awesome services or products and Google get some info about you. Until Google abuses their access to information, I plan to keep using their products.

On another hand, the fact that Google owns Youtube, as this video points out, and this video hasn’t been removed from YouTube is proof that Google is not as evil as people say they are. Evil destroys all dissent — even those normal people would see as outlandish. Even our most ‘benevolent’ companies typically ban someone for continually saying negative things of their product on their sites. A search engine that expanded into multiple fields which makes profits by ad revenue, doesn’t make a company evil.

I would actually say that – “stop whining and welcome to the internet“! The trick perhaps is to surf the internet not expecting full privacy. However, if you want to surf illegal stuff, use your neighbor’s WiFi!

So wipe away the tears of “Avatar” not winning an Oscar and get ready for a jolt: The new “Iron Man 2″ trailer just came online. Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment premiered the second movie trailer for Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2 on last night’s post-Academy Awards Jimmy Kimmel Live. Watch the trailer now embedded after the jump, and please leave your thoughts in the comments below. The new trailer mixes a bunch of footage we’ve seen before, with extended cuts, before all hell breaks loose and all of a sudden Iron Man and War Machine are surrounded by robotic enemies and and an all out war ensures. We also get an appearance from Samuel L Jackson, reprising his role as Nick Fury, and a insanely cool new and improved Iron Man armor. Watch the trailer and I’m sure that the geek inside you would be delighted!

Watch the trailer in High Definition on Apple: 480p 720p 1080p

It’s easy to opt in to Safety Mode: Just click on the link at the bottom of any video page. You can even lock your choice on that browser with your YouTube password. To learn more, check out the video below. Obviuosly, Safety Mode isn’t fool proof, but it provides a greater degree of control over your YouTube experience. Safety Mode has been rolled out to all users; watch for the new link at the bottom of any YouTube page.

Unlike Google’s SafeSearch, which allows visitors to use “moderate” or “strict” filtering rules when viewing pictures in Google Search, YouTube’s Safety Search can only be toggled on or off. According to Google, Safety Mode on YouTube works browser-wide, rather than being limited to a single user name. Therefore, anyone accessing YouTube videos from the same browser, regardless of whether they have a separate YouTube account or if they’re logged in, will be blocked from viewing mature content.

YouTube already has fairly strict guidelines for what is acceptable, but enabling Safety Mode will make it that much more family-friendly, eliminating videos that feature violence or adult material. Safety Mode also hides comments by default, and filters out swears if the user chooses to view them.

Google clearly cares a great deal about keeping YouTube’s image whistle-clean, in part so that brands feel comfortable advertising there. Interestingly, Google still hosts Not-Safe content, of course, but keeps it on Google Video.

To try this new feature out, I turned on safety mode but was able to view a video that showed violence. Sounds like YouTube guys have the right idea but haven’t thought this through properly yet. Web filtering companies have dealt with this for years (with parental control features blocking categories of websites/webpages). YouTube might want to consider talking to them about how to do this a bit better.

Some may argue that “Safety Mode” isn’t really intended to be a parental control mechanism – it’s just meant to be a handy filter for those of us with more delicate sensibilities. But YouTube’s own demo video states otherwise. “Safety Mode is an opt-in setting that helps screen out potentially objectionable content that you may prefer not to see or don’t want others in your family to stumble across while enjoying YouTube,” says the narrator. Who do you suppose those “others in your family” are? Granddad? Uncle Bob? No. Clearly YouTube is positioning the new setting as an option for parents.

While it seems inefficient at this stage, putting a hole in a truck with a laser is just a precursor to a different kind of warfare. We’ve discussed how advancements in robotic weaponry and drones are changing war, and a similar level of change may come from ultra-precise mid to long range weapons. An identified target could be hit from flight without the target being aware of the danger and with little to no collateral damage. Considering the recent record of conventional ordinance, that precision could mean sparing the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians.

The ATL is a chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) which produces hundreds of kilowatts of destructive power in the infrared. That means you, I, and the truck can’t see what’s hitting it. As impressive as that may be, you’re not going to have lasers in the hands of soldiers anytime soon. They take a lot of energy to run (the ATL reportedly consumes megawatts), are bulky (the ATL weighs 5,000+ kg) and aren’t known for being easy to operate. The ATL has a special beam control system in order to acquire targets and guide the laser to where it should strike.

Integrated Defense Systems, the division of Boeing responsible for the test, is one of the major players in the US weapons development industry with 70,000 employees worldwide. Putting lasers in the sky is just one of their goals, but it’s an important one. A closely related project, the Airborne Laser (ABL) is one of the leading candidates for missile defense during the boost phase. ABL could be, though it is still unproven, a means of defeating missile strikes from developing nuclear powers.

In a critical light, the recent test shows how the US can spend millions of dollars just to disable a truck. I do the same thing unintentionally all the time for free. Still, according to the press release, Boeing is very happy with the ATL. The bottom line, they say, is that it works. As long as progress is being made a useful laser system will eventually be created, and that potential is worth the money.

Youtube suggests viewers with big monitors and a fast computer to try switching to 1080p to get the most out of the fullscreen experience. There is a test video already up here. Performance seems to be good, but it doesn’t look tremendously different from current YouTube HD offerings.

If you have an HD camera, YouTube would like you upload some 1080p video. They will be highlighting some of the best footage on the front page soon.  If you shoot HD video, will you take the extra time to upload your videos in 1080p? For all those still stuck with a slowish internet connection, how do you think that this is going to affect you?

How to Download YouTube videos easily in Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Safari:

Open a YouTube video and while browsing the video paste the following javascript in the address bar.

To download the video in low quality .flv format:

javascript:window.location.href = 'http://youtube.com/get_video?video_id=' + swfArgs['video_id'] + "&l=" + swfArgs['l'] + "&sk=" + swfArgs['sk'] + '&t=' + swfArgs['t'];

To download the video in high quality .mp4 format:

javascript:window.location.href = 'http://youtube.com/get_video?video_id=' + swfArgs['video_id'] + "&fmt=18" + "&l=" + swfArgs['l'] + "&sk=" + swfArgs['sk'] + '&t=' + swfArgs['t'];

Copying the above javascript codes in the address bar will directly take you to the download pop-up box (without you needing to visit any 3rd party website for the download) from where you will be able to save the video on your computer with a single click [screenshot attached below]. Isn’t that a cool and easy method to download YouTube videos?

Hope you liked this little hack/tip/trick. If you know any other such cool tricks to download YouTube videos, please share them with us by commenting below. Wish you Happy YouTube video Downloading…