How to: Download music from YouTube using Firefox

There’s a wealth of music available on YouTube, especially remixes and special edits that aren’t easily available from other sources. Here’s a quick n’ easy way to download and convert them into iTunes ready music files for Mac, iPod and iPhone.

First, this method isn’t a substitute for purchasing the music you want. In addition to the fact that artists need to get paid, many of the songs posted to YouTube are often quite poor quality in terms of the audio — you deserve the best quality sound and buying the CD or track via iTunes, etc. is the only way to get high fidelity.

The stuff

For this method, you need to be running either Leopard or Snow Leopard with QuickTime 7 (available on the Snow Leopard install disk) installed and up-to-date.

That said, you’ll need an up-to-date copy of Firefox. The current version is 3.6 and you can download it here (17.6MB).

Next, fire up Firefox and then select Add-ons from the Tools menu. Click the Get Add-ons tab (or click here) and then search for 1-Click YouTube Video Downloader > Click Add to Firefox. Restart Firefox.

The music

Now, when you visit a YouTube page, such as Stunt’s Fade Like the Sun (Official Video HD Version), you will see a string of buttons at the bottom right of the video player.

Clicking a button downloads that version of the video. For this tutorial, click the MP4 button and select a download destination (i.e. desktop).

At the bottom of the Firefox window, you will see the words “One active download (X minutes, X seconds remaining). When it’s finished, navigate to the desktop, select the file Stunt – Fade like the sun (Official Video HD Version).MP4 and right click (Control + click) — choose Open With > QuickTime 7.

From the file menu, choose Export and then click the Options button. For video, choose None from format and for audio these are settings I use:

Click OK and then select an export destination.

Now, to play in iTunes, either drag the file onto the iTunes icon in the dock, drag into the iTunes music library or just double click it (imports and opens the track automatically).

Season to taste

That’s it. There’s probably an easier/better way, but that’s a quick and dirty way to download, convert and listen to the music you find on YouTube.

Gotta better, faster, easier way? Share a link or three and a description in the comments below…

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