The newly-updated
Airy - YouTube Downloader for Mac does what almost every word in its title says. It downloads YouTube videos, it runs on a Mac. Run this, grab a YouTube video, and save it to your Mac to watch later. It's so simple, you'll be surprised YouTube itself doesn't come with this functionality.
Mind you, YouTube has to contend with rights issues, and Airy can just provide you with the tools and fully trust that you will only use it for videos that you have the rights to watch and/or keep. Doubtlessly, if someone manages to illegally post a Hollywood blockbuster on YouTube, then someone else is going to use Airy to download it.
The makers Eltima should be commended, though, for accepting the realities of the Internet and trying to block misuse by contriving extra difficulties. If something is difficult to get illegally, the people who get things illegally will still put the effort in, and those of us who try to do the right thing will be the ones contending with unnecessary difficulties.
So the fact that Airy is preposterously easy to use is a relief. Just find a video you want on YouTube, copy its address, paste into Airy and click Download.
You'll never guess what it does then. While it's downloading, you get a useful progress bar showing you the size of the file, as well as the estimated download time. Then it keeps the video in its list. You can't play it from within Airy, but if you double click on its title in the download list, the Finder will open with that file highlighted.
There are other options; chief among them is the ability to convert a video. With this, you can take a YouTube video, and format it to fit the device you're going to watch it on. There are six available formats, but admittedly we just always left it on the default. We could've converted the videos we downloaded into Flash, but why invite problems? The default is .MP4, and that's fine.
One other handy feature is that while you usually run Airy as an app, you can embed it in Safari and other browsers, so that when you're on a YouTube page, you can just click once to have Airy download the video.
There are alternatives including the free MacTubes application but that is a fiddly beast prone to popping up error messages and logs. Plus, even when you see how to download from MacTubes, the videos it produces with its default settings are poorer than those using Airy's defaults. Still, free is good and the range of options in MacTubes is greater than in Airy so if you're willing to invest some time experimenting, give it a try. There's no official MacTubes site per se but
you can download it from many sites including this.
Airy requires OS X 10.7 or higher, and
costs $20 from the official site. There's also a Windows version there for the same price, which is compatible with Windows XP or above.
Who is Airy for:
When you need to keep a copy of a YouTube video, or you want to save them for when you don't have an Internet connection, then this isn't for you. Wait. You have all the rights to these videos? Then Airy is for you.
Who is Airy not for:
Vimeo fans.
-- William Gallagher (
@WGallagher)
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