Disappointed with the giveaway.
The free giveaway was voided by a recent update.

Downloaded quickly even though I have a slow DSL connection. Installed without a problem - test on several XP and Vista systems/laptops. On most of the XP computers a message popped up during installation stating that YouTube Downloader was already running and would be shut down to continue installing. Don't know why since I don't recall installing this program before and one of the systems is a fresh install of Windows. No problems installing, though. After installation is complete there is an option to open the software's web page but every time I installed it the web page opened any way and advertised a promotion for a lifetime license along with a free music downloader (after the Napster incident I steer clear of "free music" offers on the internet).

I tested the program by searching for "Simpsons" (couldn't think of anything else at the time) and there were plenty of results. I selected a file for download and the program downloaded the video quickly saving it to the "Youtube Downloader Suite" directory it created under "My Documents" (this can be changed under "My Settings" tab). Playback of the video was satisfactory, too.

I tested the "Download Videos" feature by entering a URL from YouTube and it found the address quickly and also presented a "popup" with details about the video which I didn't really understand but this information might be useful for a techy. As previously mentioned by another tester there are a lot of Porn sites listed in the download list of sites but I couldn't find an option to block these sites.

The "Help" button connects to the company's web site and provides useful how-to information and screenshots. That's a plus.

Conclusion, the program is easy to install and easy to use. There are lots of freeware alternatives including Realplayer but often times as with Realplayer the videos do not download or are incomplete. I look forward to trying out this program some more and I'd definitely recommend it ($40 is quite high, though). Thanks GAOTD and Apowersoft for letting me use the program for free.

The internet is already saturated with all these kinds of internet video downloaders. In fact there are atleast 3 online free alternatives that I can think of to replace this one and even do more.

I think I'm going to pass for this app.

The product is excellent and it is needed to be more user friendly.
In terms of uses of features and different applications available in YouTube Downloader.

This program was titled episode downloader before ive been waiting for this for a long time ever since i upgraded to windows 7.Great app since u dont have to keep our browser open to download

1. Is there a way to change the black background? Virtually unreadable for my eyes.

2. No fullscreen option?

I ran activate and got back a message that the program is activated, but when I run it I get a message that this is only a trial version and I can't seem to download anything. Running XP Pro.

Fantastic program. I have tried some of the others you have given away and they are either difficult to use or the sound has been out of sink with the picture. This one is incredibly easy to use and the sound sinks with the picture even when I open it with a different program. YEAH!!!!!

Looks nice, downloads. Good thing up to that point.

Tried to play the dl'd video and my firewall nagged me to kill the player part due to a problem ... seems there's kind of a glitch in that part.

Besides of that the german UI translation is a horrible mess. Stay with EN if possible.

Conclusion: Uncertain - needs another try later, I think.

I've found numerous suites that work far better than these programs. This comes off as far too much app for something so simple, I would much rather stick with the best lightweight client I've found thus far (for free!) ATube Catcher. It also has a lot of other useful utilities, and although it still has to download the video prior to conversion, it has an option to delete the .flv as soon as the conversion is complete.

Re: Legality. First, I am not a lawyer.

Here is a Wikipedia page on the U.S. Supreme Court case where Universal City Studios sued Sony Corp. to block Sony from being able to sell video recorders. The case made a very big difference, opening up the whole VCR and now DVD industry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Corp._of_America_v._Universal_City_Studios,_Inc.

The issue appears to be that the court allowed personal convenience and time shifting as legitimate uses of copyright material.

The interpretation might be that if you use this product to capture videos for your own private use at another time when you are not connected to the net, or to copy onto a personal device for viewing where that device cannot connect to the net, or even just to be able to watch it without slowdowns due to net traffic, that's OK.

But if you sell your copy, that's illegal.

If you distribute your copy free so that people can get it without having to go to YouTube and thus avoid the advertising on YouTube that is paying for the video being there, that's apparently not allowed either.

Your copy is for your personal use and others have to get their own from YouTube. That appears to be the way the U.S court ruling would apply.

As I said, I'm not a lawyer.

I hope this helps.

Use Firefox utube downloader then grab the audio with Format Factory, does a great job, and they are free.

I'm curious about the legality of this type of software, is it actually possible to download, for example, music videos from Youtube using this program? That is the only thing I would be interested in downloading from there ;o)

YouTube Downloader Suite is an interesting app -- it seems to virtualize .NET & VB rather than install what it needs to Windows, though I've no idea how well or if it works when .NET isn't installed in the 1st place. For YouTube downloads it seems to me a bit of overkill -- too much app for too simple a task -- but that's me. Surf away from YouTube & how well [or if] it works was hit & miss this morning. Going to a news site that wasn't on the supported site list, I loaded a page with Flash video in ie8, copy/pasting the url into YouTube Downloader Suite -- when I clicked the download button it opened another ie8 window to the same page, then caught every video clip as it loaded, with a pop-up asking if I wanted to add the clip to the download list. I also fired up Video Cache View [free from nirsoft.net] to keep an eye on things... as ie8 downloaded the playing video stream, YouTube Downloader Suite saved its copy. I chose this site because video saved from there was problematic, not playing or converting in many apps [e.g. VLC] -- the YDS-saved copy was smaller than the original [ie8 cached] download [43 vs. 116 MB], though MediaInfo data was identical, & it played well in VLC etc. But neither the YDS converter nor the player would work with it -- according to their site some video has to be re-recorded as it plays, but in this case case I couldn't get any of that to work. Next I tried a site that was on the supported list, Spike TV, expecting things to work better -- I was wrong... Going to the page with playing video clips [not program episodes] I copied/pasted the url into YDS as before, but the only clips it offered to save were the short adverts, not the title clips themselves, & then most of the time even downloading the adverts failed. It's usually hard to say much about a video converter using 30 second clips, but the adverts were the only downloads that would work, so I tried them -- the tests [partially] failed...

The adverts were in a generic AVC/.mp4 format, sized like the title video at 640x360. Using a generic Xvid avi output format profile, the YDS result plays in VLC with the wrong aspect ratio [it's obvious -- Shatner looked thin again :-) ] & crashes Windows Media Player v.12. I ran the same sources through Videowave [Roxio Creator 2011], matching the YDS output file specs (per MediaInfo), & the result played everywhere with correct aspect, so the problem's not this rig, Win7 &/or video apps/codecs etc. installed.

Installation is painless -- YouTube Downloader Suite adds 3 folders & an uninstall key to the registry [registration data stored in the registry after running Activate.exe is the only thing keeping today's GOTD from being portable]. The main Apowersoft folder holds 58 files, 16 folders, & takes up ~53 MB -- the Apowersoft folder under User\ app or Application Data holds 53 files, 3 folders, taking up ~230 KB -- the default output folder, (My) Documents\ YouTube Downloader Suite is initially empty.

IMHO as a GOTD YouTube Downloader Suite is worth holding onto -- for the cost of some disk space & a couple of registry keys you get something that *may* work when others fail. If it works better than [the many] alternatives on a favorite site with difficult video, you might use it as your primary video downloading app, but for the most part prior GOTD video downloaders IMHO seemed easier. As far as conversion goes I'm a bit leery... an avi file crashing wmplayer isn't a huge deal, unless it's [the *Extremely* common] Xvid. That's one bug that'll hopefully get squashed pronto [Xvid is built into YDS -- it's not in the folder as separate files, & YDS encodes to Xvid without Xvid being installed to Windows -- so it's unfortunately more than copying in a newer Xvid .dll etc.]. At any rate potential video compatibility problems are I think something to be concerned about unless you're absolutely certain that the video will only ever be played [not edited/converted] on your gear, assuming of course that there it plays fine in your usual player. It'd be a different story if GOTD hadn't provided us with so many video converters capable of handling Flash [.flv] video.

On the basis that it includes a direct quote of being able to download from porn sites and the like, I will not even attempt to support the software!

First time I've commented, here. I won't be getting this one. I use Final Video Downloader, which seems to offer more for free. All downloads can be converted either after or by selecting a format before you start. It will convert to Ipod, DVX, MP3, Sony PS3, PSP & WMA. I've put downloaded clips on to DVDs, VCDs & also PS3 (via a portable hard drive). Audio files can be easily imported into Itunes after you've downloaded/converted them. It will also convert videos you have previously downloaded to any of the other formats. It's very fast & reliable. It runs from a one-click icon that goes onto Firefox next to the home page icon and queues up to 10 videos at a time. Also allows you to choose your save destination. Doesn't seem to work with IE but, as I'm using IE9 RC, that's not suprising. With all the free video downloaders & editors available these days, I find it hard to see how the developer can justify a $40 charge for this program. I've downloaded quite a few handy programs from you but I'll pass on this one. Thanks anyway, GOTD.

As commented by Patrick McNamara (# 21) "...the program lists porn sites..." maybe that could be seen as an incentive to download and install this program, since it costs 40 bucks and does not do more than the freeware which is readily available on the Internet.

Jokes apart, with reference to the matter of kids using computers I would recommend any diligent parent to purchase and install the proper software to restrict access and manage permissions if their kids are using their computers: One cannot rely on "YouTube Downloader Suite" to take care of that.

It would be like taking a teacup of water out of the ocean... If you see what I mean.

wonderful interfce,wonderful opportunity.only search always come up with "sorry...no result"! also the program has no advantage over vdownloader which is free and give much much better search results (but the interface and the skin is very poor)

While this software is a good idea, there is a big flaw with its proper operation. There are a couple of searches for songs with videos in them and they all come back forbidden. It appears YouTube has blocked the developer of the software from connecting to its servers. Until this is fixed, this software is pretty useless. The interface seems simple and easy to use however.

When I try to install, I get dialog that Youtube Downloader Suite is already running, press 'OK' to continue or 'Cancel'. However I don't have Youtude Downloader either installed or running and the two buttons on the dialog are labelled 'YES' & 'No'. "Huh"!!!

I do have ORBIT and Speedbit downloaders running.

Downloaded, installed and activated fine. However, may work for Youtube, Yahoo and a few others but, does not work for all sites. FoxReal Youtube Downloader given away here a couple months ago is much better. If Youtube, Yahoo and the like are all you are interested in downloading from then you do not need a software installation. KeepVid is a web based video downloader. You simply browse to KeepVid, paste the URL of the video you want to download then choose the file format you want downloaded. Waaa Laaa... It's done. Uninstalled this one!

#22 Rick - Hi, as I said there's nothing wrong with the main download site but its opffspring harbours a different picture. It is definitely fully RED via WOT and is quoted as being dangerous. As can now been seen from someone elses comment, there are links within to lead you to porno sites but that's not the main problem, being a coder myself, it is very easy to instill keyloggers etc into those ppl who visit you - it only takes a moment (while you visit etc). On the other hand, it could be deemed "dangerous" simply because of incidents with payments via pPaypal or Visa etc. I don't actually know the reason why - but it is up to the vendor to make changes - if they think it is desireable to gain a "good" reputation. If not? then it's anybodys guess why it's WOT red hot. Now, I am not saying that they will insert keyloggers if you visit that site but for those who consider themselves prudent, then one shoud avoid such places. Perhaps GOTD could provide some answers as they have a responsibility towards their public.

Why the hell do we need to install anything when we could just download anything from youtube thru www.keepvid.com or many other sites? Too much eating will make u fat and slow, so as too much installing useless program, it just might slow down ur pc.

#5 Struan, Norton 2010 gives it a clean page status.

It's handy to download videos if just to watch using your own software rather than the streaming software the site provides. But there's so much out there that works for YouTube, including a lot of Mozilla plug-ins, that a separate program isn't necessary. I tend to favor NetVideoHunter although it doesn't allow for the multiple formats. For those using IE it appears to be a useful program but those using Mozilla have other choices.

Although this program appears to be designed to work outside of a browser and allow searching through it's own search engine. However, it's list is limited to 1000 entries so one has to have some idea of what they're looking for first. There are also many multi-part videos on YouTube but this program doesn't appear to find other segments. In both cases using the browser is often easier.

This program will work for YouTube and those sites that allow stream recording. It's those non-YouTube sites that are difficult to work with and for what people want a stream recorder. In those cases a screen recorder is about the only thing that works.

It should also be noted that the program lists porn sites so those with kids need to be careful. Some way to disable or block these sites would be useful.

y'know, i know i sound cynical, but it's so obvious when the dev's friends are posting. their english isn't so great. their comments are poorly written, and they're always fluffy and soft. you're used to reading honest, detailed posts that ask relevant questions or deal w/the app's limitations, and then you step in something totally out of context and fanboy, like, "wow, i am sure glad my friend told me to get this. it is the best program ever. come and try it!" please curb the starry-eyed enthusiasm and let the forum be about improving the software. for one, here's my idea: devs, please tell your people not to post to the GOTD forum, looks bad for you.

Is there a way to stretch this program to run full screen. It's a little too small on my screen for my old eyes?

I sure like the Youtube search window option!

I use the Easy Youtube Downloader plugin for Firefox, it's a button below the YouTube screen. That part is easy, but it loads a lot of ads to sort through. So I like it better than installing a program that I have to find & fire up. Also, it works on Linux.

Freemake video downloader is free and better

Installed and runs decently on my not so new Windows 7 laptop. Looks like it's a decent suit of applications, haven't toyed with it yet and have no need to as everything it does, Firefox already does for me with a help of a couple of plug-ins.

If you'd like to do the same thing this program does, but don't want to add another program to slow down your computer, I suggest downloading Firefox (or any browser based on the same code like CometBird etc) and check out "Download Helper". It can download 99% of the flash videos out there right from your browser. It even has some advanced features like "download and convert" which requires an external conversion program.

Download Helper (and the others available) are always free and doesn't add unnecessary things to your registry while giving you the same functionality.

So I give the program a 6/10 but recommend Firefox users to check out the above mentioned add-on.

Installs fine on Windows 7, 32 bit, no problems registering. It's hit and miss on downloading from YouTube like sites, not all these file get recognized. The converter is of average working form, but the upside is that it's a all in one program. Free alternatives: Firefox add-on Net Video Downloader Helper, Gets everything except streaming video. And Format Factory , and Brothersoft are good converters with limited editing capability.

Thanks GAOTD. One question though - how do I register the program?
Says it's successfully activated but I can't work out how to register it. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

oh umm and to add on to my other comment (since i dont know how to modify it) the download speed is really slow like 1/10 of my actually download speed it takes like 10 mins to download a 10 min video lol normally would take me a min or two the videos i downloaded seem to work before i converted them now they run for about 1 second long so i would suggest something that keeps the original video and maybe if not that a re download button if possible

Okay so i downloaded and just got a couple of videos off youtube but sadly this did not work i do not know the exact reason but the converter didnt even work and when import into itunes if gave me errors so all in all this was probably a good program but im unsure if it was a problem on your guys end since you have a lot of "awesome program" type comments not stating much that dont work or if it was on my end where i just recently built this computer and this is the first problem ive had so far

Hi! I have downloaded this to my Windows 7 32 computer and it seems to have installed and be working ok, however, I am unable to change the save to directories. Unless I have missed some vital piece of information, we are given the option to change the save to download destination and the save to converted files destination. I am unable to save a new destination, the installed ones will not change even after I have clicked on save new destination folder. Would appreciate any help. Thanks to all the companies who allow us to dl their sw for free, and BIG thanks to GAOTD, great job!
Elhe90 in Sweden.

Maybe Someone can help me B4 I download and install. What's the difference between this and TUBE Catcher, which is also free?

If you click on the link above (the fourth bullet-point option below Key Features) the webpage comes up RED in WOT (Firefox) - so it fails the website safety check. They have one clean site that is OK while their other site comes up as being a v poor place for surfing safety - not a good sign. I'll avoid this one.

yeah... media helper ( firefox addon) can do all of this for free with the exception of the editing but there are many free tools for that as well >_>

Just for Windows not for Mac? I usually download youtube video from keepvid.com or savevid.com freely, converting videos with total video converter from mac-videoconverter.com with high quality and fast conversion speed, because i'm using Macbook.

Downloaded and installed on Win 7 Home 32bit no problem. Thanks GAOTD!