Hey HN community, I've noticed an intriguing shift in Google search results lately. As someone who often shares comedy videos with friends via WhatsApp, I typically search for "YouTube Download" on Google and click on one of the first few results. However, today I was taken aback to find that no working websites appeared in the search.<p>Upon further investigation, I discovered that numerous recent DMCA reports have called for the removal of these websites, e.g., (<a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/34141048#" rel="nofollow">https://lumendatabase.org/notices/34141048#</a>) and (<a href="https://lumendatabase.org/notices/34226349#" rel="nofollow">https://lumendatabase.org/notices/34226349#</a>). Interestingly, this development coincides with YouTube's ongoing ad-blocker crackdown.<p>I don´t agree that those websites necessarily violate copyrighted content. I can't help but feel that my trust in Google search results has been further eroded.
This is nothing new [1], but the music industry has seemingly been getting more aggressive recently. The other day there was a story about an independent label trying to get a Wikipedia article delisted [2]. TorrentFreak is doing great work covering all these developments, by the way. The sites are being delisted and sometimes taken down entirely with “anti-circumvention” claims, and it will continue at least until some appeals courts rule on whether YouTube ripping counts as circumvention under the DMCA. Search engines can follow GitHub’s example and take a stand against the validity of these notices, but otherwise they are just following the letter of the DMCA.<p>[1] <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-delists-youtube-rippers-from-google-using-rare-anti-circumvention-notices-191108/" rel="nofollow">https://torrentfreak.com/riaa-delists-youtube-rippers-from-g...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/music-company-asks-google-to-delist-youtube-downloader-wikipedia-article-230528/" rel="nofollow">https://torrentfreak.com/music-company-asks-google-to-delist...</a>
Try invidious. <a href="https://invidious.io/" rel="nofollow">https://invidious.io/</a> It is a FOSS front end to YT. You can do anything, download in various video and audio formats. Watch any video without signing in. No ads, etc.
There are other options as well such as <a href="https://newpipe.net/" rel="nofollow">https://newpipe.net/</a> client for Android and Yattee for iOS. <a href="https://github.com/yattee/yattee">https://github.com/yattee/yattee</a>
The VCR was a tool that allowed people to time-shift (record now, watch later) copyrighted material, which was determined by courts to be fair use. It also allowed people to duplicate their <i>own</i> material, which was unquestionably always legal.<p>YouTube downloaders are just modern day VCRs. That they <i>can</i> be used to violate copyright doesn't mean they are <i>only</i> used to violate copyright. There are plenty of public domain videos on YouTube, and downloading them doesn't violate copyright.
Related thread:<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36106741" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36106741</a> (<i>"Music Company Asks Google to Delist 'YouTube Downloader' Wikipedia Article (torrentfreak.com)"</i>; 3 days ago, 65 comments)
It seems Google is trying to eliminate anything that affects YouTubes bottom line more aggressively than before.<p>Introducing ad-blocker blockers is among one of those.<p>Another one I’ve noticed and I’m sure it’s not a coincidence; I always use YouTube via browser on mobile (has some great extensions including ad blockers) and I’ve noticed that the quality on the mobile browser is limited to 360p…<p>There’s no option to increase in the drop-down. I tested on various videos that have 1080p in the web browser and no dice.<p>There’s trying to squeeze every penny from YouTube
I use Youtube very sparingly. Sometimes not at all for months, sometimes a bit more for some days. I might consider paying for going ad-free. But their pricing is exorbitant for my usage. Some pay per view with a monthly capping at the current rate might be OK.<p>So currently my biggest incentive is to avoid the whole ad-heavy crap. And if I have something that I want to share to a group or my language class I use yt-dlp to ensure availability in different countries and no interruptions by ads.
If you're on Android, grab "dvd" off F-Droid.<p><a href="https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.yausername.dvd/" rel="nofollow">https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.yausername.dvd/</a><p>Fairly user friendly, but also far more powerful than third party YouTube downloader services you can find online.<p>I don't personally use it, but there's also Videomass for Windows.<p><a href="https://jeanslack.github.io/Videomass/" rel="nofollow">https://jeanslack.github.io/Videomass/</a><p>These tools give you relatively user-friendly access to yt-dlp.
I mean you use a Google product to circumvent a Google product.<p>I understand the frustration of course but it's hard to me to complain about Google because I never thought Google search is independent unbiased.
I switched to this recently, works really well:<p><a href="https://www.4kdownload.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.4kdownload.com/</a>
I just did a Google search for "YouTube Download" and in the first page it returned SSYouTube, DVDVideoSoft, Y2Mate, 10Downloader, and YTBvideoly. I didn't test DVDVideoSoft because it's a Windows app and I don't want to bother with installing in VirtualBox, but the website itself is working. The other ones are online downloaders and while they don't retrieve the highest quality, 720p is still HD. Most of them simply redirect to a streaming url from which to Ctrl+S, but one of them did have an actual Download button. None of them are the best, but still functional, thus I'd say Google isn't doing such a great job at censoring.
This was never in results, but it is light and clean.<p><a href="https://videodownloader.world/" rel="nofollow">https://videodownloader.world/</a>
I use vidjuice, <a href="https://www.vidjuice.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.vidjuice.com/</a>, it work great on windows and mac
Google is too afraid of putting YouTube behind a paywall & desperately wants that Ad money so they'll do everything they can to ensure you see moar Ads. Just use YouTube-dl or ytdlp on your local machine or heck WASM
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. YouTube's URL obfuscation is "effective" DRM, circumventing it is a crime. Do not expect Google to list websites that promote criminal activity.