Hi all from RR. Let's see if anyone knows the answer to this. I recently tried to record the soundtrack of a certain video on youtube, first of all just trying it acoustically from the TV speaker to the mike on my mobile phone's sound recorder, and all I got was a really faint and distorted recording, so I thought my phone must be faulty. So I tried it another way by plugging my old stereo cassette recorder into my scart selector with it switched to the freeview o/p, ( my freeview box has youtube ) and while it sounded fine through the recorder's speakers when recording once again it played back all really faint and distorted. So I thought my recorder's bias oscillator must've failed, so to test it I made a short test recording of something from the TV, and this time it played back fine, so the tape recorder is ok, ( and so is the mobile ) so what's happening? is this some kind of copy protection that even works through the speakers? Is there some kind of modulation that's above the audible range? I've since found the same video elsewhere on youtube and tried recording it from there using both methods and this time it worked fine. So what's going on? any ideas anyone? I've not seen this before. RR.
I haven't got it on this machine but I did used to use a utility called Freecorder which worked very well. As the name implies, it's free ...
Basically, it recorded everything from your sound card and worked very well indeed - although you might want to turn off the bing-bong sound that tells you an e-mail has arrived when you are using it!
It seems to have expanded to cover a lot of useful recording functions these days - I suggest you take a look:
http://freecorder.com/fc8/download.php The izzy-whizzy modern version doesn't seem to attract good reviews, unfortunately but if you just Google "free sound recorder" you'll be spoilt for choice.
When all else fails, read the instructions
If you have the correct "drivers" on your PC you should be able to use Audacity or any such programme to record the "Stereo mix" or as it may also be called "speakers"
Windows 7 tries to disable this but once I had installed the correct sound card drivers it was possible.
Mike
I always used to use 'Real Player' before YT put a stop to it.. The new version is 'cloud' based and doesn't download to you PC, so, I might also try one of these ones suggested here.
There's a very simple way of doing it, there's a site called listentoyoutube.com - just copy the youtube address link and paste it into the bar on the website, click download and the website will convert it for you. It will present you a link to download the mp3 file. I use it all the time.
Dave.
https://sites.google.com/site/davegsm82/projects/radioputer - A BC5441 Turned into a Media Centre PC.
I use Freemake to MP3.boom, a free program that is very easy to use. You simply copy the URL, paste it into Boom and click download. The soundtrack is then copied, converted and saved wherever on your computer you wish.
http://www.freemake.com/free_youtube_converter/
As always with free downloads, be sure to remove any additional options as you install. I can't remember if there were any bundled bits of rubbish when I downloaded this some time ago, but I'd bet there would have been.
Tony
There's a very simple way of doing it, there's a site called listentoyoutube.com
+1 
RR,if your trying to record from a speaker to a mic, your going to lose gain and there could be a mismatch between the various bits in your "chain"
I use an old obsolete DAW called Cakewalk Music Creator 3 which records content as a WAV file. However it's a bit unwieldy as the WAV files have to be exported to WMP in order to burn them to CD rom. I'll look into some of the suggestions above.
One problem I encounter when recording from Utube is the difference and quality of the original recording. Say I want to record "Dancing Queen" by ABBA, there maybe five "videos" each with different levels of gain, some of which will overload your recording medium. I always record a test track first.
There could be a mismatch from the recorded signal, IE it inst going into the red on the VU meter when recording, play the recorded track backand the gain has shot up, and you have a distorted recording.
Welcome to digital recording! There are often several "hidden" signal "filters" in the signal path. For instance your soundcard may be set to "rock" where the bass etc is accentuated. I'm afraid you have to go through the whole chain to find the problem.
Andy.
Curiously curious
Just downloaded freemake (thanks Aerodyne) & put Locklins Bar by Michael English into SWMBO's music folder. I'm now in her good books; until I do something wrong that is..
As has been pointed out, the audio quality of some of the videos on You Tube leaves a little to be desired but I find that the Freemake program handles them well, generally. It has the beauty of extreme simplicity, too!
Tony
Yes it was very straight forward, she's found a load of other songs she wants doing. I've shown her what to do & 'she's away with the mixer' as they say..
Hi from RR. I don't use my PC to watch youtube. I only watch it on my freeview box, which is a Manhattan plaza, that way I keep it separate from my computer as I've had trouble with really serious and very destructive malware from youtube in the past when I still had windows XP. I first tried recording from the TV speakers to my mobile, and the playback was really faint and distorted, then I used my old stereo cassette recorder plugged in the phono audio o/p on my scart selector and I ran the video first without recording to get the level right and I then recorded the soundtrack which sounded fine through the speakers and it was only when I played it back it was really faint and very distorted again as if something had failed on my recorder but it hadn't, it's fine. It only happens with one video, I later found the same video elsewhere on youtube and then I tried recording again using the same methods and same set up and this time it worked fine, so there must be something odd on the first video, some kind of copy protection that even works through the speakers. I've never encountered anything like it before. I'm not using any software or soundcards, just old traditional methods which I prefer, I wasn't recording music, only someone making a speech. RR.
I must say, I'm still a fan of plugging in the cassette deck to the PC or iPhone's headphone output! Never fails for me 
If I'm feeling adventurous, I'll sometimes get the Minidisc recorder out...
I have tried some of the youtube video downloaders that can be added to firefox before, but found some would lower the bitrate on some things when converting them to MP3 or whatever, even though the original that was on youtube sounded quite good. I'll have to try some of the other suggestions here 
Regards,
Lloyd.
some kind of copy protection that even works through the speakers.
Could be some sort of low or high frequency tone outside the audible range superimposed at high level on the audio to fool the recorder's ALC into reducing the gain? You can get free audio spectrum analyser software for PCs and tablets / phones which might show that up.
I've just tried the one suggested by Gus - You Tube's own service, which I had no idea even existed. It worked flawlessly for me and it has the benefit of even greater simplicity. Well spotted, Gus.
Tony
I've just tried the one suggested by Gus - You Tube's own service, which I had no idea even existed.
I'm afraid that site has nothing to do with YouTube, despite the name. YouTube strongly disapproves of such services but if you're happy with it good luck.
That's worrying, not being official You Tube. I made a false assumption that it was. I will only use the Freemake software, now.
Tony
Aerodyne.... My SWMBO sends her thanks for the freemake link: She's been taking songs off you-tube into her folder then onto her phone. I'm in good books so thanks from me as well..
