Appnoodle

YouTube Downloader does exactly what it says on the tin, it enables you to download YouTube videos directly to your phone. Here’s a quick look.

You don’t have to be the greatest YouTube fanatic to see the potential here. Next time you’re going to work planning a trip to an entertainment free zone, and/or will be without wi-fi, you can download a bunch of content to your SD card for keeping yourself amused later (or until your battery runs flat, natch).

This isn’t a complex app to use. Simply search for videos within the app itself or from the mobile YouTube site in your browser. When you click on a video you’re given the option to download or use the pre-installed YouTube app to stream as usual.

We tried a bunch of random videos from a 10 second Michael Jackson tribute to a 31Mb, 9 minute monster and had no problems downloading or playing any of them. Downloader provides a thumbnail view of each downloaded clip, its size in Mb and the download date. A short click plays the video, a long click gives you the option to delete or share via email, messenger, etc. The quality’s pretty good too, so long as you download from a wi-fi connection in the first place.

As you might expect, we try *a lot* of Android apps, the vast majority of which we don’t report on since we like to focus on the best stuff. It’s always nice then, when something comes along which just *works* and does exactly what it’s supposed to. YouTube Downloader is in that category.

The app isn’t available from the Android market (presumably because of the potential for copyright infringement) so you’ll have to visit the Sirius web site to get it. It’s not free but at $1.99, it’s not going to break the bank. Well worth it, we say.

Tested on: T-Mobile G1
Developer web site: www.siriusapplications.com
Price: $1.99
Availability: Available from the Sirius web site

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Note:
It is, in fact, possible to download YouTube video to your Android device without using an app at all (instructions on Android Tapp) but it’s a bit of a faff.