Vox Circle: Broadcast Your Zune

Last week I discussed the tenuous Zune / videos relationship, and ways to get new video content onto your Zune. One method that I did not discuss last week (and decided to make into its own column) is loading YouTube videos onto your Zune.

First off, you'll have to thank the Apple megalith for being able to download videos from YouTube. YouTube videos come in two flavors: Flash-based and MP4 format. The latter is for the iPhone / iPod Touch, since they don't support Macromedia Flash. Lucky for us, we can make use of this.

First off, I make no warranties or legal advice regarding this option. Don't share videos, kids. And make sure your passport to South America is on standby.

First off, there are multiple ways to do this, but I'm going to focus on two of them. One involves the site KeepVid.com, and the other is for users who want to place a bookmarklet on their toolbar (Firefox, Safari) or create a bookmark (Internet Explorer, Opera) for even easier access.

The more universal option, KeepVid, is pretty simple:

1. Pull up the YouTube video.
2. Copy the complete URL link (e.g.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI).
3. Go to the KeepVid site.
4. Paste the link into the textbox labeled "URL."
5. Click the Download button.
6. A new page will come up with two download links below. One is "Low Quality" (the Flash .flv file). The other is the "High Quality" video, with a .mp4 extension. This is the one you want. Click on the Download link.
   
7. You will see the standard Save As... dialog box. You should know what to do from here.

The other option is, in my opinion, much more convenient. It is detailed at the Google Operating System blog (described as "unofficial news and tips about Google"), and instead of regurgitating the information, I will simply link to it here. Basically, it involves dragging a shortcut to your toolbar, so that when you are on the YouTube video page, you click the link / button, and you receive the Save As... dialog box instantly. Well-worth investigating.

So... anyone else already doing this, and if so, what method(s) do you use?