YouTube is a massive video streaming website with a history that goes back to 2005. In this relatively short amount of time, the YouTube empire has grown to become one of the most powerful forces on the Internet today. YouTube is perhaps the best known example of new media, where individual users generate content instead of large media networks.
The type of content on YouTube is also very different to what is shown on regular television networks, with millions of short videos, video blogs, and a large selection of music content. However, despite the wonders of YouTube, the service does not allow users to download content directly to their own computers. Despite the fact that this is against the YouTube terms of service agreement however, there is still a variety of third party software solutions that allow users to do exactly this. In order to perform a youtube video download, you need access to both downloading software a media player to play downloaded content.
YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, all of whom were early employees of PayPal. The first ever YouTube video was called “Me at the Zoo”, and featured Karim at the San Diego Zoo. While YouTube has been a success ever since its launch in February 2005, there have been a few truly momentous events that have made it the online empire that it is today. In November 2008, YouTube reached an agreement with MGM, Lions Gate Entertainment, and CBS, which allowed the companies to post full length films and television shows on the YouTube website. A number of other major deals have also been done, including deals with the Indian Premier League to stream live cricket matches and a deal to show more than 60 full length television programs for UK viewers.
With all of this high quality content available, many people want to save YouTube videos to their home computers. While this is strictly forbidden because of the terms of service agreement, there are still a number of options out there for users to choose from. In order to perform a YouTube video, people need to get access to a software download solution, either in the form of a stand alone program or a website application. Then they need to find a way to view the downloaded content, either through file conversion or the use of a dedicated file player.