Download YouTube Videos to Your Mac

YouTube is great for watching comedy, news and entertainment clips online. The success of the Google-owned video sharing site has mobilized wannabe news anchors and spawned the latest journalism craze, “Citizen Journalism”.

In fact, the success of the site has made prominent news channels like CNN introduce their own “citizen journalism” programs, and forced many news networks and cable channels to embrace the social revolution by creating their own channels on the site.

However, one critical missing feature of YouTube is the ability to download videos off the site, to watch at a later time. So today I’m going to list a few easy methods to get YouTube videos off the site and on your desktop. You can then use a free video converter application to convert the video to iPod or mobile phone formats, and take your favorite YouTube channels with you wherever you go!

Related: Save YouTube Videos on OSX.

Wondershare Free YouTube Downloader for Mac

A stylish app that allows you to manage your very own “YouTube Library”, Wondershare’s YouTube downloader is quick, stylish, and free.

The GUI is well-designed, with a very “iTunes-like” interface that will make Mac fans feel right at home. To download a video, simply search for it via the “search” tab in the sidebar. When you start the app, it immediately searches for and lists a few notable YouTube videos you might be interested in.

One minor problem I have with the app is that the “converter” tool is not free; you have to purchase the corresponding conversion software from Wondershare if you wish to change a YouTube video from the standard .flv (Flash video file) to something more usable.

Thus, to play .flv files, you can easily do so using VLC Media Player. To convert them, give Handbrake a try — it’s an awesome app for converting and ripping DVDs and a host of other formats  — including .flv — to preset options like PSP, iPod, Apple TV and Zune, to name a few.

To get Wondershare Free YouTube Downloader for Mac, click here (direct link)

Do you have a better method of grabbing YouTube files? Drop a line in the comments and let us know!

Written by Rahul Dowlath on June 6th, 2010

I'm a young writer from South Africa, chronicling the changing tides in the ever-flowing river of technology. Focusing mainly on Apple-related technologies, I enjoy sharing my opinion and giving a few tips and tricks here and there on the latest and greatest from 1 Infinite Loop. I'm an avid blogger, and an even more avid reader.