Internet video sites are wonderful sources of amusement and entertainment. When you have some time to kill, there’s nothing better than watching cute animals acting cute and/or humans acting retarded. But, alas, internet connectivity isn’t available everywhere yet. It’s nice to be able to grab videos off the web and save them for later-especially since it seems like the places where there is no Internet are the places you are most likely to be in need of a diversion, like the doctor’s office or the DMV.
Since I have a doctor’s appointment in the near future AND I need a new driver’s license, I decided to see about snagging some portable video entertainment. As luck would have it, we recently received a request to review an app called Tubeminator that lets you grab videos from online, convert them to your desired file format, and download them. Basically, it’s like Farkie (which I reviewed months ago and is now calling itself Gazzump) , but it only grabs video and audio files, while Gazzump allows you to grab CSS, pictures, etc.
Tubeminator (is it just me, or does that name sound like something Marvin the Martian would use to destroy earth?) advertises itself as “the best way to get videos from YouTube.” So, I tried to use it to download and convert a popular YouTube video. As you can see, the process is easy-just paste the video URL, hit the “Tubeminate” button, select your file type and download it once it’s converted.
Unfortunately, the video portion of the .avi file that Tubeminator produced for me wouldn’t play on Windows Media player. I got the audio portion along with one of those trippy music visualizations, but no dancing fat man (other, previously downloaded music videos are playing fine on my computer).
I don’t know if I did something wrong, but it seems like I didn’t have this problem when I tested out Farkie/Gazzump. Well, I suppose I could take up cross-stitching…
Tubeminator does have cool features, like the ability to crop and edit the video. You can also upload a video or an mp3 file to edit it and convert to a different file type. Supported file formats include: avi, .mpg, .mp4, .3gp, .mov, .wmv, .flv, .wav, .mp3, .mp2, and .ogg.
Since you can grab and manipulate audio files from videos, I’ll bet you could also use Tubeminator to quickly create cell phone ringtones for phones that play MP3′s.
Anyway, it’s a neat service, but for whatever reason it just didn’t work for me. Also, I should note that snagging videos from YouTube is verboten under their terms of service. So, like Gazzump, Tubeminator could be in some trouble if Google decides to bring the Googlehammer down.
What do you all think of Tubeminator? Have you ever used it? Did it work for you?
Our Rating of Tubeminator
Categories:web
RT @usefultools: Tool of the Day: Grab Videos From Popular Internet Video Sites With Tubeminator http://su.pr/4e0k38
Using third party apps and tools to grab video from online sharing sites violates the Terms of Service on most of these sites. YouTube’s TOS, for example, specifically states:
“You agree not to access User Submissions or YouTube Content through any technology or means other than the video playback pages of the Website itself, the YouTube Embeddable Player, or other explicitly authorized means YouTube may designate.”
“You agree not to circumvent, disable or otherwise interfere with security-related features of the YouTube Website or features that prevent or restrict use or copying of any Content or enforce limitations on use of the YouTube Website or the Content therein.”
http://www.youtube.com/t/terms
Do not support & promote tools that provide a service which you are not supposed to be using. I can buy a slim-jim, but it does not mean I can legally break into your car.
Yes, I did note that Tubeminator could find themselves on Youtube’s hit list for that.
Really cool website. I’ve tried it do download a video from vimeo and it worked perfectly. Looks like a great online video converter.
You know, if you’re going to post a positive comment about your own tool, you really should identify yourself as the developer and not pretend to be a consumer. Just sayin…
hey just passed by consedince while for a song in some blogs
anyway nice blog gotta check it out hope you accept me as a follower and a friend blogger. thanks ^^
It’s great and I use it to take music I found off youtube and vimeo. The only problem is that once opened in itunes, the file is impossible to rename.