[candywren]

eg. the flash files on "youtube"

thanks for sharing

[Davies]

At the moment I'm using Flash Catcher. It only works inside MS Internet Explorer, which is something of a pain for us Microsoft-loathers. Still, even if you usually use a different browser, you can always fire up IE when you need it.

Flash Catcher doesn't seem to be able to pick up all types of Flash files, but it's small and easy to use. (I have to say, I've never tried using it on YouTube.)

I briefly tried Flash Hunter (which is not freeware) but wasn't impressed enough to buy it.

Have just run across Orbit Media Downloader (freeware) and I must say it looks very impressive. They specifically discuss using it to download YouTube videos, so it might be what you want.

[simpson_yellow]

I use Super©, which I've always found to be a flexible and reliable converter (scroll down to near the bottom of the page and click the "Start Downloading Super" link).

The process is a bit more long-winded than using a browser plugin, as you'll have to wait for files to cache in your temporary internet files folder (assuming you use Internet Explorer), before copying them and then dropping them into Super. However, I've always had success with it, whereas my hit rate with various browser plugins has been patchy at best.

Youtube clips, for example, create files called "get_video?video_id=xxxxx" in your internet cache. Copy this file to a new location, launch Super, and drag the new file into the Super window. You'll be able to convert it to whatever format you like: mpeg, avi, wmv etc.

[Davies]

I've gone ahead and deleted Flash Catcher and installed Orbit. It was a bit fiddly getting it to work with Opera, but it seems to work fine, and I don't have to keep switching to IE to download things.

It has a function called Grab++ that monitors anything grabbable on any page you visit, and you can then tell it to download or not at your leisure. I don't seem to have the "hover mouse to get a grab button" feature in Opera, but the Grab++ works fine as a separate little program-ette window.