We have received a notice from Google requesting that Zamzar stops offering users the ability to download video files from YouTube, as this is in apparent violation of YouTube’s terms of service. Unfortunately this means we have been left with no choice but to cease to offer video downloads from YouTube via Zamzar with immediate effect.
Zamzar will continue to function as normal for all other conversions. We will continue to offer support for the conversion of hundreds of different file formats that are relied upon by thousands of people everyday. We are also planning to expand the number of conversions on offer and will be developing a range of exciting new features over the coming weeks and months.
We realise that the ability to download and view YouTube videos locally will be missed by many of you (especially teachers), and we’re sorry we can’t do more to support this – Unfortunately this decision was taken out of our control:
Zamzar has been around for over 5 years, we know many of you love using the service, and we have received the odd comment that we’ve saved lives (ok not literally!) We hope you will continue to use Zamzar for all your file conversion needs.
Happy Converting !
The Zamzar Team.
I’m sorry that it had to come to this. I loved this feature, I will miss it greatly.
We all do…
thanks guys you`ve rocked all along we1ll decide hence forth the ‘TERMS’ emposed on google – their days are yet numbered and non-infinite
This really stinks for teachers who have to deal with YouTube being blocked at school. So many great resources lost 🙁
I am a teacher and have found that if you add an “s” after the “http” youtube will pass through their blockade so to speak. Worth a try.
I agree. Used to download & repost on SchoolTube so I could embed on my website. Now I have to type in the filter override each time.
It’s ridiculous, and it won’t stop folks from copying videos – there are too many software options available. Google needs to embrace the customers who value their videos instead of putting up walls. Thanks for the great service you provide!
Well Unfortunately I Have To Stop Using This Site Now. All I Used It For Was YouTube Download So Now I Have No Use For It. Thank You For Your Years Of Service
Youtube wouldn’t be anything without us, the users. We will continue with zamzar, and will also CONTINUE downloading videos. We will never be that easy :). Cheers!
Noooo!
I am devestated, I’m a teacher too and zamzar has been the single greatest resource for me in my battle to deliver interesting lessons to students, ah, man, this sucks big time, I’m going faint, noooooooooooooooooo, Google suck ass, I’m changing my browser to bing.
I agree, i m so sad I can’t be able to download educational videos/ musics to share later with my children. :((
Google needs to seriously rethink their service and how this decision is negatively impacting the classroom and missing making that connection with millions of students!
i wanna cry 🙁
I’m sorry this happened. 🙁 This was something that I loved.
YouTube FLVs are pathetically easy to download with ordinary flash downloaders. Those can still be converted on this site, and there’s not a damn thing Google can do about it. They’re not stopping anyone, just making us do it in a roundabout way. All they’ve accomplished is to tick people off, and that’s the first step on the road to digging your own grave.
Teachers at my school can bypass the Youtube block with a password..all schools should be like that!
Aw, that’s awful!
This is one of my favourite youtube converting sites.
It’s very hard to find other reliable ones… oh well. What can you do when Big Brother is watching over your shoulder?
i have used your site for months to download music videos for our small church group. We have really enjoyed the videos. Thank you for making this service available. I don’t know why google did this. I will really miss this feature. Don’t know what i’ll do now???
Oh no. I used it for quite long time and like this feature a lot. Thank you so much for your help all this time, zamzar
Wondering why other sites still provide download links for youtube 🙁
Please Google reconsider this decision.
This was such a great tool for teachers to help children learn – don’t any of youat Google have children at school?
Zamzar thanks to you – it was good while it lasted!
I will keep checking this blog for suggestions of how to get round this problem- I just can’t do without youtube now!
Thanks for all the help, Zamzar. It was a good run.
Even so, this is the BEST online conversion resource I’ve ever used.
YouTube functionality will be missed. =[
any suggestions on what to use now for us teachers? please tell me what to use…I have a Mac.
There are many other sites that have the youtube feature. I loved this feature dearly and am upset to see it go! A good alternative is the Ant Video downloader add on for Firefox, and I got firefox for the sole reason of that add on. Give it a try! It really works, but will download it as an FLV (Which is pretty much useless…) but it comes with an FLV player, and zamzar will convert it if you change the name.
Good Luck!
Thanks for all the years of service. YT continues to just get worse because of Google. Does anybody know a SAFE downloading alternative out there for YT?
I will miss this feature a lot. It was the only place left to download youtube videos in 3gp and watch them on mobile. 🙁
Google now officially sucks.
That is not fair! You did so well for YouTube videos, and now you had to cease and desist from this? Shame on Google!
Like other teachers who have commented above, I am gutted that so much fantastic content on YouTube will no longer be able to reach the classroom. I just don’t understand how (or what) Google gains from this!
you can hyperlink it on powerpoint.
While that may work at home, most schools block YouTube and many teachers (and students) used to download the videos at home and play them in the classroom.
I’ve been using this service for about 6 years now, it’s a shame that this feature will no longer be available. However, Zamzar still has other conversion features that I will use. Google can’t stop evolution, there will be other options. Thank you Zamzar!!
F**k these corporate giants, you guys rock. Thanks for the years of great service.
Thank you for the years of service! <3
I don’t mean to be forward, but why are we all just whining about what Youtube has done? Very little happens when people complain in isolated niches. That’s not how to cope or counter with this. Youtube/Google may feel like they have justified reasons for blocking out downloading, but perhaps they are too readily overlooking some of the consequences of their actions. As some people here have stated, there are times when this service can be used for educational purposes and that this is their only method of obtaining these videos for classroom use.
Why not be more constructive and do something about this dilemma? I’m sure that there are many people across the interent who feel similar levels of frustration towards Youtube/Google that an expression of unified yet legal displeasure might have some impact. And thus, I offer this suggestion: a petition that requests that Youtube provide or allow methods to download their videos for strictly nonprofit educational purposes, or that Youtube allow this downloading to occur (or not occur) based on the given (or denied) approval of the individual Youtube user whose video is being downloaded.
This is just an opinion that I’ve brought fourth that may or may not have actual validity. I don’t have a Youtube account, so I am not entirely aware of the nuances and underlying implications of my suggestion. Furthermore, I have no means to carry these ideas out and have no intention of being percieved as a rabble rouser or demagogue. If anyone can explain how this idea would or wouldn’t work or how it could be improved, expanded or rejected, please join into the discussion.
Good comments. Most videos i see are placed on youtube so that they can be seen by others. Typically only the music industry are concerned with downloading as they cannot make the buck. A good suggestion is to start up a website that has the abilities to load and download files. Part of the user agreement is for unlimited distribution be authorized. Youtube can keep the music industry. The rest can go elsewhere. 😉
Thanks zamzar for al the help with my lessons at preschool!
Does someone knows an other site where I can download videos from youtube?
Google Needs to tell YouTube to Clean up their pages and links so that the public can view it with out the crude links and language… You Zamzar provides a service for teachers and parents to share with children and teens at a censored level. Choices that parents need. Youtube is a great resource and great for entertaining, but there are so many things that these great resources get linked to which cross the PG line.
This is really sad news. 🙁 All the same, if I ever need to convert anything that’s not from Youtube this is the first place I’ll visit. ^^
Well that’s it google. This is the last straw. Time to switch my search engine. And thank you zamzar for your years of service. Your are the best. 🙂
I am so sad about this – the feature was SO useful. Not for pirating stuff, but just for productivity. I guess they thought it got around the advertising, but we still had to watch the adverts to find the videos before we chose to download. As with some above, it was the only reason I used ZamZar. So sad.
Google is really starting to be a pain in the ass, maybe we should all start using bing!
Switch to Bing? Is Microsoft really any better than Google?
Really unfortunate that Google runs around bullying a service like Zamzar. Can’t say I’m surprised, though it definitely impacts my ability to share materials with students.
Yup I’m a teacher too and this move by Google really stinks. I have only ever used Youtube clips to help make lessons fab for kids. Look at it this way – ZamZar has changed lives, Google has just screwed us…
I HATE GOOGLE AS OF RIGHT NOW!!!!!! >: I
SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!
Thx Zamzar!! for the great service you have provided all this time, sorry to see google boycut parts of your awesome service : (
I’m a future teacher (graduating as an Ed major in the fall!) and have been using Youtube in the classroom for about a year and half now. I’ve always relied on Zamzar. It’s a shame that misuse of the service has led to this. Google is trying to protect their website (Youtube) by doing this. Other companies have been threatening Youtube for a long time because people to use services like these to steal content from Youtube. It’s awful that this happened but Google is not to blame. Music industries are after them and they’re just trying to protect their service. You would be even more upset if Youtube was shut down.
to bad.. I was using this very often. 🙁
I f******g hate google, let’s all rebel every1 switch to bing hmmm whats a good site like YouTube but isn’t? Yea let’s also use that
Bye GOOGLE, any ideas of another program to use?? Thank you Zamzar.
well it was great while it lasted is one way to look at it I guess, sorry google got a little whiny over this, but there are probably other ways to get youtube videos, probably not as easily that I will miss, so thank you for over the years of providing youtube download Zamzar it was great.
The whole reason I have an account with you is to download youtube vids. I will have to cancel my account. There are many companies that offer the service of downloading youtube videos, and there is no way google is going to stop them all. I don’t like the idea of not being able to share information that is publicly available. The internet is public. This threat from google is really a threat to freedom of speech, and the fact that they’ve managed to bully zamzar (because you’ve gotten too big now) into taking the youtube option away is already hurting your business. Good luck.
Google, if your reading this, I’m no longer interested in using any of your services. I’m switching search providers! Your all a bunch of inconsiderate snobby jerks who just took away one of the greatest web services of all time. I hope your proud of your moron selves. Why don’t you think of what your customers want for once.
Google does not CARE about anyone but Google. When they first announced their new “non-privacy” privacy policy, that encompassed Google, YouTube, and all Google-related things, I cancelled my Google & YouTube accounts immediately. I still used YouTube without signing in, and Zamzar was such a wonderful, wonderful thing. Once again Google is showing its true colors by threatening a good company like Zamzar if they don’t stop allowing YouTube video conversions. Google is a greedy corporate entity that cares nothing about its users. I say boycott all things Google!!
Damn it Google ur pissin me off!!! Im switchin to Bing Thanks anyways Zamzar for all these good years!
It’s really funny how Google spread the word of the “open information for everyone” but as soon as you “touch” them, the game of the “free knowledge” isn’t funny anymore,,
this is rediculous. i have been using this feature for years and it has been a life saver. im really upset with google. and will be for a long time. thank you zamzar for everything. i know this isnt your fault. wish we could do something about this…
I used Zamzar as a conversion service for a plethora of file types before beginning to use it to convert YouTube flv files for download. Although I will miss the ease of use and speed with which this site allowed me to do that, I’ll most definitely continue to come back for conversion of everything else. My favorite feature is the ability to convert those darn Microsoft Publisher files that people keep sending me for some reason. There are some times I’m using a computer without a particular video codec installed and who has my back? That’s right, Zamzar. You rock!
Any chance you guys would release that part of your code so folks could run it locally if they knew how?
Hey Snipe, if you’re interested in a solid open source project for this kind of thing check out http://rg3.github.com/youtube-dl/
Sweet, thanks! So sorry Google made this request of you. I understand their position and that they have to make some effort to protect the artists and companies that have video there, but this is certainly unfortunate.
Thanks again for pointing me to that repo. I’ve forked it, and will be adding a Mac OSX GUI on that to lower the barrier to entry for the less-techie. I imagine you guys probably can’t make a big deal of alternate options (lest you risk Google’s ire again), but someone should let these teachers know that there is already a Windows exe for it in that source, it seems.
Sad to see so many people lashing out at Google for this. Google is trying to protect the people that host their intellectual property on their website. If they didn’t enforce this kind of thing, they could get sued themselves for not taking adequate measures to prevent piracy and theft. I know it sucks for them, but Google isn’t doing this just to be jerks. Any video hosting service that gets to be Google’s size is going to have to do the exact same thing, or risk content creators pulling their vids, which lessens the value of that web property.
Just my two cents.
Aaaand that’s it. No more Google for me. Thank you Zamzar for 3 years of great service!
No! So many potential musicians who originate from YouTube are now lost to many many ears now! That’s the only way I could make their work travel outside to the world into mp3 format. I get all my other stuff from iTunes and the like. But dang, now I’m limited to just watching my unknown artists on YouTube.
You suck Google.
Mark – musicians have a ton of ways to get their music out there. iTunes, Amazon MP3, BandCamp – the list is quite long. This doesn’t actually affect them at all, IMHO. They can still post their videos and add a link for people to download their mp3 in the description, like millions of artists who don’t want to charge for their music do every day. If those artists want to make their mp3 available for download via YouTube, nothing is stopping them and this doesn’t change anything for them.
I teach in the Caribbean and I rely on Zamzar a lot. Thank you for having provided this facility.
What a bummer! I really liked spending time exploring YouTube. Also, Google was my preferred search engine. Looks like I’ll have to find a new one until they let you do your thing with them….
Thanks guys, its a great service even without.
The unfortunate reality is that there is no way of telling who is using it for legitimate purposes and who is using it to steal content and steal music.
I for one, would make videos for clients, put them on Youtube, and had clients copy them if they wanted a local copy. Saved me a lot of DVD burning time!
Of course, like one commenter said, this won’t stop people from copying videos.
I’m disgusted. So it’s OK for google to take pictures of our houses, steal wifi details, decide what searches will be prioritised based on their affiliates yet when a useful service gives something back to teachers, musicians, artists, the very people that made youtube work they block it. If you are looking for a method to do this, and are sick of all the dodgy services out there use the portable version of http://www.youtubedownloaderhd.com/download.html then use zamzar to convert the file. It works a treat.
reason number 9,483 why I never will use google for anything. Ever. youtube was the only thing worth a tinker’s damn from Big Brother, er I mean google, and now they can officially hang it in their ear. screw you google, and thank you zamzar for a terrific service. I have used it for things other than youtube and it’s the absolute best out there – I will miss the youtube conversion function tho..
zamzar rocks!
This is very disappointing! I enjoyed showing youtube videos in my classroom without having to worry about inappropriate ads popping up. I guess we’ll make do. Teachers are forever expected to adapt to new circumstances. This is, yet, another one.
:'(
As a teacher it was totally awesome to download videos that we rely on in lessons for when our internet connection is far from joyous. Your service will be sadly missed. Adapt or die.
>:( 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁
^ There’s more where that came from.
Google ruins everything i love!!!! X'(
HEY TEACHERS ! Listen up. download the software which called : youtube downloader. it is ridiculously fast and downloads at the best quality.. HOLD ON. when you downloaded the video u want, u can come to ZAMZAR.com and convert it to the file format u want 🙂 enjoy http://www.zamzar.com‘s features…
I love this website and the services you provide. it is unique. thank you.
Bing, here I come.
🙁 ohh
i have been in love with this feature feeling sorry for me and others tooo…
i hope youtue will offer it again….
pls vote
zamzar had to do this so they would not be breaking the piracy laws, the FBI is trying to destroy anyone who adocates piracy intentionaly or not. but ironicly you can use videograbber.net to download it in .flv then use zamzar to convert it, so google didnt solve the problem, idiots.
Zamzar has been very useful! thanks Zamzar!
Google.. how selfish you can be!
come back pls. . .any way thank for years service. . .-))
boycott google!!!!
Years of loyalty down the drain because of some fat-cat.
I salute you, Zamzar. Now I have to put up with some shitty third-person software.
Still good for me to convert word files to pdf. Yet, I do miss this function 🙁 I really enjoyed some videos on it.. but oh well..
Google needs to realized that the future of the internet is now. No longer are their Youtube videos “sacred”. The rest of the world can see them, and the rest of the world deserves to use them. That information does not belong to just them.
Augh, some songs you cannot find anywhere else and it just infuriates me that it has come down to this, as if Google and Youtube do not own enough that they have to cut off yet another great feature on the internet. The internet is becoming more and more restricted each day and it’s become more irritating then it is beneficial. Zamzar has been fantastic in providing me with conversions that I can get anywhere else but I come back here because I don’t need to sign up to some nonsense and I don’t need to receive any spam e-mails from them. Thank you for so many years of great service, although some of the reasons of why I come here each day have been cut off, I will find alternate ways of using your easy and productive service.
A while ago, I asked people to stop grumbling and whining about this situation and to do something constructive. And…we’re still grumbling and whining in a secluded little corner. I haven’t seen the formation of online petitions, I haven’t seen any measures to confront Google in a legal and socially acceptable manner, and I haven’t seen any attempts to help keep Zamzar, which seems to be a pretty honest little site, afloat. The most action are enraged declarations that the poster will boycott Google and Youtube, an action which I believe is not only passive aggressive but rather unconstructive, considering the specifics of our situation.
First of all, whining and complaining in secluded corners will not do anything to help Zamzar. It is easy for a giant to overlook a little kitten if we remain hiding in the bushes. Now, if we were to start making our presence and distaste known through unified numbers in prominent areas online, they might pay attention to us. But what are our motives for doing so? A desire to angrily lash out at Google is not how we should approach this. I see people here declaring Google as selfish for protecting its business interests- and then turn around and state that they are leaving Zamzar so that they can contiue their downloading elsewhere.There are others who ply their own site’s business, perhaps hoping to benefit from this calamity. How much less selfish are we than Google if we are choosing to act for our own individual interests? Does the honest answer to this question render us as hypocrites? If anything, we should be striving to preserve a small site whose business is that of helping the general population.
Furthermore, we must consider the other side of the argument, the very actions of Google. Ever since the Internet became mainsteam, there have been legal movements to decrease and halt online piracy. Some of these policies are justified, but others are quite reactionary. The problem is that the federal government has very few ways to discern illegal piracy of a blockbuster film done for profit from the average, well intentioned educator legally downloading a video for use in the classroom. As a result, Google and specifically Youtube are under a lot of legal pressure to protect the copyrights of other media giants in film, music, and entertainment. There is also a growing cry to protect the “intellectual property” of individual Internet users. More and more people are using the internet as their way of earning a living. Maybe they are producing music or films that they believe should be protected from secondhand distribution. They may view such as Zamzar as a threat to their living. We also must remember that Google is a corporation. Firstly, they are in business to gain money and protect the interests of their stockholders. They are not in business to be your best friend. If they believe that individual downloading and conversion sites are significantly harming their income revenue, they will act to “protect” their business, even if that involves employing a series of policies that makes them a monopoly giant in their specific industry. In acting for their corporate interests, they tend to overlook the interests of the general population. Why? Because as a corporation, they can financially afford to promote their interests, and they carry a greater social flout than the single individual.
These reasons are why I have suggested a widespread online petition. I believe that this petition should ask- if not demand- Google to permit or create methods through which their videos can be downloaded for strictly academic and nonprofit reasons. Furthermore, they should allow this downloading to occur with the express approval or disapproval of the individual whose video is being downloaded. Firstly, it is a legal and socially acceptable way of expressing displeasure. Secondly, it shows that we are willing to confront Google about their actions. We are willing to negotiate, but we also have points on which we insist on standing. It also respects the indivual and their intellectual property without excessively restricting Google and their corporate interests. If this does not work, then and only then may a widespread boycott perhaps be required.
Come on, for every one poster here expressing displeasure there must be at least a thousand- perhaps ten thousand or more- individuals floating around on the Internet who feel the same way. Why are we not harnessing that people power for something constructive that might benefit everyone here?
Some interesting points here – thanks for your constructive input. One potential avenue of expression:
http://www.change.org/petitions/youtube-googlede-allow-third-party-recording-tools-for-youtube-freedomonyoutube
Zamzar Team,
If you can create a website to convert files. You can create a site to post videos, audio, etc. Use the suggestions on these postings and you would have a site that can rival Youtube. The only reason people go to youtube is that there is no other site to get it. Start small and work your way up. Petitions do not work. Start up a new branch of your business.
You make some excellent points. I’ve been boycotting Google since they came up with their new “non-privacy” privacy policy, but does a corporate giant like Google really care if I boycott them? Of course not. You’re right – it’s going to take some REAL action among the tens of thousands of people who used Zamzar to convert YouTube files for personal use. Zamzar is at the mercy of Google on this issue. It’s going to take a large public outcry to open Google’s greedy corporate ears.
🙁 really miss this…
The best I ever used, didn’t even bother looking for a different site that could do better…that day until now, I’ve still haven’t looked for one… Too busy thinkin about devastation and how convenient it was for me.. Loved you guys though….SAVING LIVES?,.. HONESTLY, that is not far-fetch….
What a pain Google. We teachers really have enough to content with!
I’m a teacher. I REALLY miss the ability to convert youtube video. Please, Google, read these posts and reconsider.
noooooooooo
i have been in love with this feature feeling sorry for me and others tooo…
I’ve used you guys for many years. Thanks for providing the easy platform of downloading videos for educational purposes. I am a fan of Google but this sucks.
Oh well there are other services, but thanks for being awesome Zamzar. I told so many friends of mine about this site.
Google made girls cry.