Is converting Youtube to Mp3 illegal?
Posted: Sunday, June 27, 2010
by Mike Thomas
In order for us to address this question we first need to discuss exactly what it is to convert Youtube to Mp3. As you know Youtube is the most popular cache of videos on the Web. Youtube itself is nothing more than a group of streaming video files known as FLV files.
What is an FLV file?
An FLV file is a product created by Macromedia. It is basically a Flash video file. This Flash video file is used by popular video streaming sites. Websites such as Google video, Yahoo video and of course Youtube. This is the file that is ultimately used to scrape out the audio version and converting Youtube to Mp3 or some other Audio format.
There is many sides to this argument. Many people believe converting Youtube to Mp3 is illegal and here is why. The FLV delivery sites such as Youtube has specific copyright information. Once that media is in jeopardy of copyright infringement it becomes illegal. When someone makes a copy of a copyrighted piece of material and then distributes it, this becomes copyright infringement. So let's examine the process of converting Youtube to Mp3. You take a file that Youtube has given you permission to view. They blast it out all over the publicly viewed web and syndicate it. We then take that information and change its format. As long as we only use that material for personal use and do not try to distribute it, it is not illegal. Remember when you watched TV years ago and maybe you recorded your favorite TV show on the VCR. You changed the format of that TV program from a cable broadcast to a VCR tape. Converting Youtube to Mp3 is the modern day version of this.
How can I convert Youtube to Mp3?
This can be done a number of ways. You can use a firefox add on and convert the file using their software. But the easiest way to do this is to use a free online Youtube to Mp3 converter such as Makeitmp3.com. Another free website for Youtube to Mp3 conversion is Youtubetomp3.com. Both of these sites let you paste the URL of the video you want to convert into their converter and you get your Mp3. I am interested to hear any argument on the legality of this issue. What are your thoughts?
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)How sure are you of this? Because the recent story of the woman being sued for that ridiculously high price for having illegal music makes me worry. I thought I had the same opinion as you but then I researched it more and I wasn't sure.She only downloaded it off a illegal download site.Not on YouTube to mp3 converter program.She only downloaded it off a illegal download site.Not on YouTube to mp3 converter program.
Same person as last question... where it says it's only illegal to distribute it, I found an article saying that it's illegal to "create a new work derived from the original work (for example, by translating the work into a new language, by copying and distorting the image, or by transferring the work into a new medium of expression)" which would seem like it would make converting video to mp3 would infringe on copyright.
Technically, recording music when listening to the radio is illegal. There are a number of tools for doing that on computers. I'm sure RIAA is more worried about peer to peer networks than people recording music on their computers haha
It is copyright infringement for several reasons.
1. YouTube's terms of service say you will only access the content via their service, delivered in the manner in which their service operates. So making an MP3 from a YouTube video is violating their terms, and violating the wishes of everyone who has uploaded content on that site. No one has given anyone permission to make copies of their work just because they put it on YouTube!
2. You are making an unauthorized copy of someone's work. Again, No one has given anyone permission to make copies of their work just because they put it on YouTube.
3. The comparison to VCR recording is flawed. Music is something people pay for in order to use it over and over, often for years and years. TV shows and movies might get watched a few times, and the legality of recording using a VCR is restricted to using (watching) that content once and then erasing it. Now, of course that doesn't always happen, but the most you might watch something is maybe ten times in your entire lifetime if it was your favorite movie, like Star Wars or Ferris Bueller's Day off or whatever. But music is different. You might listen to that song hundreds of times in your lifetime, and the artist deserves to get paid for their creation when someone uses it that much. By making an unauthorized copy of a song from YouTube using an MP3 converter, you are stealing from the artist by not purchasing their song.
For all these reasons, it is piracy (copyright infringement). Not to mention theft, and bad Karma. I would not advise anyone to do it.
What he's saying is that it's as illegal as recording a show on a VCR is. So technically it is. But not really. Ever heard of anyone getting sued or arrested for recording an episode of Magnum PI? I haven't. This issue is nothing to worry about.
There is a big flaw in this analogy, yes it is legal for personal use but only if you DELETE it after that single use. that is also how the DVR is meant to be used. You know as well as i do people don't go downloading these songs to delete them immediately thereafter, so really it is illegal no matter how you put it. Not to mention it's just stealing money from the artist
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