FLASH GRABBER

The flickering behemoth in the living room is being replaced by much smaller flickering boxes that now command our obedience. More people each day prefer to get their vid fix online.
Sites like Youtube, Metacafe, Google Videos , AOL, and even TMZ are fast becoming a central source of entertainment and an integral part of our national psyche. As far as radio content is concerned, grabbing audio from these sites has become as important and topical (if not, more so) than TV and film. But getting the audio from the web has been a time consuming and resource hogging process until recently.
Typically, you'd have to tie up your daw interface to get the job done and you'd be doing it in real time. This really messes with your A.D.D. tendencies since you can't multi-task as much. No worries because now there's a more efficient and time saving way to grab the audio. As most of the video streaming online these days is flash based, there is no better way to go than a good flash video grabber. With a flash downloader grabber in your pocket, you can go to the site you want, start downloading the videos you need and continue working on other audio projects. Then, when all your video is downloaded, you can cull, collate and edit your audio efficiently and when time permits without the hassle of buffering and slow internet speeds. There's more great news. Most of the good apps are free!
As with most freeware, there is a lot to chose from. We’ve narrowed it down some of the better apps here.
For Windows –
• Orbits Getit - This downloader works great and integrates well with your browser (works on both Explorer and Firefox). You can right click the video and download that way or use the clickable “Get It” that pops up over the video you are watching and save the vid to a folder of your choice. This one can download in large batches, allowing you to jump from one vid to the next like a locust. Yes, it’s free.
• FlashCatch - A simple to use app, this one puts a drop down in your browser. When you go to a video, simply chose the vid from the drop down and the video starts to download. The only drawback is you have to have a separate player to play the vid. VLC , is a good muliti format player app for this and one that you should probably have anyway. Both FlashCatch and VLC are free aps.
• Flash Video Downloader Youtube - This is one has a nice interface and supports MOV, MP4 and AVI formats. The download process is fast and easyFlash Video Downloader YouTube offers a convenient and comfortable interface for downloading videos from the Internet. Despite its name, the program supports a number of formats, including MOV, MP4, and AVI. This app costs $4.95 after 15 days of trial
For Mac –
• Flash Video Downloader - This free Mac downloader is simple, super easy and allows for batch downloads. Simply copy and paste the url of the vids you want and the app does the rest. SWF, FLV Player and Quicktime are all capable of playing back the downloaded vid.

• YouTube Downloader http://download.cnet.com/Free-YouTube-Downloader/3000-2194_4-192611.html - It’s free, allows for multiple (batch) downloading and even let’s you extract the file names from the sites. Works with Mac and Windows