[HN Gopher] Music Company Asks Google to Delist 'YouTube Downloa...
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       Music Company Asks Google to Delist 'YouTube Downloader' Wikipedia
       Article
        
       Author : picture
       Score  : 113 points
       Date   : 2023-05-28 19:00 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (torrentfreak.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (torrentfreak.com)
        
       | shams93 wrote:
       | Sounds like the don't understand that official music and video
       | content like rental films are DRMed - youtube-dl and other
       | downloads error out when trying to download DRMed content.
        
         | kmeisthax wrote:
         | The official music industry position is that _all_ YouTube
         | content is DRMed, whether or not it invokes an EME decryption
         | module, because the URLs are obfuscated. They 've been trying
         | to get YouTube downloaders banned for years now on that basis.
        
           | bitwize wrote:
           | The URL obfuscation probably counts as an "effective"
           | copyright protection measure under the DMCA. YouTube download
           | sites and tools are thus illegal.
        
             | themerone wrote:
             | As long as it can be copied from the URL bar, there is no
             | copy protection.
        
               | jffry wrote:
               | The URL of the actual media files is different than the
               | video ID in the URL
        
               | bitwize wrote:
               | There's some obfuscation going on fetching the actual
               | audio and video, the URLs to which are never shown to the
               | user. Those URLs are decoded with a bit of JavaScript.
               | Youtube-dl (and yt-dlp) contain enough of a JavaScript
               | interpreter to evaluate that JavaScript in order to
               | decode the URL.
               | 
               | Since the purpose of the obfuscated URLs and JavaScript
               | is to gate access to the video and audio through a
               | browser hitting the YouTube site where they can't be
               | saved, this scheme constitutes an "effective" copy
               | protection measure. Bypassing this gating mechanism is
               | thus circumvention, illegal under the DMCA.
        
               | aprilllll wrote:
               | Surprisingly enough, it's even simpler than that. You can
               | trivially access a direct URL that serves the entire
               | video or audio (they're served as different files).
               | 
               | Just open up DevTools, look for requests to
               | googlevideo.com, find the request with the video or audio
               | (i.e. content-type response of either video/mp4 or
               | audio/webm), copy the entire request URL, remove the
               | range parameter entirely, open the link, and voila!
        
         | gwd wrote:
         | FWIW I've never seen this happen. In fact, I've handed Youtube
         | Music URLs to yt-dlp and so far haven't had any problems
         | downloading the content. (Admittedly I don't do this often; but
         | at least one of the things I downloaded was a soundtrack by
         | Disney, whom I'd expect to be more strict about this sort of
         | thing.)
        
           | jeroenhd wrote:
           | youtube-dl will error out. yt-dlp works differently, and
           | works with more videos.
           | 
           | I believe youtube-dl simulates the browser Javascript client
           | and yt-dlp emulates the Android client, though I'm not 100%
           | sure of the modern workings.
        
         | codetrotter wrote:
         | > youtube-dl and other downloads error out when trying to
         | download DRMed content
         | 
         | Can you give an example of a YouTube video where this happens?
         | 
         | Take for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0ozmU9cJDg
         | 
         | That's a video of a song from the channel of the band that
         | killed the Napster P2P network and software back in the day.
         | 
         | I hear that there is no problem downloading that song with yt-
         | dlp.
         | 
         | Likewise, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FTATjvCJ-Q
         | 
         | That's a video with music from a YouTube channel owned by one
         | of the most copyright lawyered cartoon companies in the world.
         | They successfully made videos of a cartoon mouse stay protected
         | after it was supposed to enter public domain.
         | 
         | Yet, I hear that this video is also able to be downloaded
         | without problem with yt-dlp.
         | 
         | So when these videos are able to download without problem, idk
         | what public videos on YouTube would not be able to be
         | downloaded with yt-dlp.
        
           | netrus wrote:
           | Presumably those only accessibly with YouTube Music or for a
           | fee (movie rentals).
        
             | codetrotter wrote:
             | Idk, I don't use YouTube Music.
             | 
             | Parent commenter said:
             | 
             | > Sounds like the don't understand that official music and
             | video content like rental films are DRMed
             | 
             | And that's what I was responding to. Not YouTube Music.
             | 
             | There are plenty videos with music from the original
             | distributors, like those I linked above, on regular
             | YouTube, and which as mentioned will be able to download
             | with yt-dlp.
        
           | antasvara wrote:
           | The piece mentioning "rental films" leads me to believe
           | they're referring to the paid content available on YouTube.
           | Much like Amazon Video or other sites, YouTube allows movies
           | to be rented or purchased. These are unable to be downloaded
           | via programs like yt-dlp.
           | 
           | This is not in reference to copyright. It's in reference to
           | DRM, which isn't present on public videos (but seems to be
           | present on purchased and rented videos).
        
           | EGreg wrote:
           | All those other ones you hadn't mentioned. The true scotsman
           | videos
        
             | [deleted]
        
       | kylecazar wrote:
       | I've found that most every song I've searched for on YouTube is
       | on there in one form another (music video, lyrics video, etc). I
       | have YouTube premium, so I don't see ads, and can download the
       | videos.
        
         | zeta0134 wrote:
         | I mostly consume videogame soundtracks as my background music.
         | My downloader script solves several problems:
         | 
         | - I can play the entire OST on company / otherwise awful
         | internet, where bandwidth is not free
         | 
         | - The player doesn't pause midway through every 3rd track to
         | obnoxiously ask me if I'm "still listening"
         | 
         | - When the OST inevitably vanishes from youtube, I still have
         | it to listen to
         | 
         | (Mind that many of these OSTs are not available for purchase
         | where I live, so this isn't a "vote with my wallet" sort of
         | situation. Nintendo in particular is _real_ bad about this.)
         | 
         | There are other more elegant solutions, but unfortunately the
         | means through which I've purchased the game's soundtrack the
         | normal way (the game itself) is generally a poor means to
         | actually listen to it. I would pay for this service if it
         | existed; where's spotify for soundtracks? But no, it doesn't
         | exist, so tech solutions get to deal with the problems. I do at
         | least pay for YouTube Premium, that's the closest thing, but
         | I'm not going to suffer its various inconveniences if there's a
         | better option for the actual playback.
        
           | williamcotton wrote:
           | What video games? Are they video games you played with
           | friends and family? Do you associate meaningful life events
           | with the games or the songs?
           | 
           | I want to write a song about video game music and I'd like
           | to, erhm, "borrow" parts of your life story. :D
        
             | HideousKojima wrote:
             | Sometimes they're just good songs? For example the
             | soundtrack to _Nier: Replicant_ could go head to head with
             | anything big name Hollywood composers have written.
        
               | williamcotton wrote:
               | There's got to be some social reason why you're listening
               | to Nier: Replicant as opposed to something else.
               | 
               | I didn't expect any downvotes, but it seems I hit a
               | nerve.
               | 
               | I'm sorry if I offended anyone, that wasn't my intention,
               | I just don't know anything about the kinds of people who
               | would listen to video game soundtracks. I figured there
               | might be some stories to share.
        
               | impendia wrote:
               | I sometimes listen to video game soundtracks while I
               | work. Usually older stuff in my case: Legacy of the
               | Wizard (NES), Shadowgate (NES), Final Fantasy IV/VI
               | (SNES), etc.
               | 
               | I don't have a particularly interesting story to share.
               | The music is familiar and brings back good memories; it
               | is energizing; and it is easy to listen to.
               | 
               | In the original game setting, the music would play in the
               | background and hype you up for whatever task you were
               | trying to accomplish. Nowadays, instead of attempting to
               | defeat the Warlock Lord, I'm trying to finish a section
               | of a research paper. Both tasks, at least in my view,
               | call for the same mood.
        
               | zztop44 wrote:
               | I think it was just your comment maybe felt like it was
               | implying they were doing something weird or unusual.
               | 
               | I also listen to a lot of video game music when coding.
               | Why? One night, years ago, I got talking to an Uber
               | driver about music and he shared a Spotify playlist of
               | video game tracks. Years later, I generally listen to the
               | full soundtracks of the games he included in that
               | playlist (most of which I've never played or even heard
               | of). Thanks Munib!
        
             | zeta0134 wrote:
             | Dozens and dozens, too many to list. Modern favorites
             | include Celeste, Hades, Ibb and Obb, Shovel Knight, Paper
             | Mario: The Origami King, and Cadence of Hyrule, just to
             | name a few.
             | 
             | No life events really, it's just that when I code I prefer
             | my music to not have lyrics, and soundtracks are pretty
             | much perfect for that. They're often designed as background
             | tracks anyway, and a given soundtrack tends to have
             | consistent atmosphere, good for setting the mood for some
             | task.
        
         | KomoD wrote:
         | Yeah but YouTube premium doesn't work the same way, sure you
         | can download but it doesn't give you an mp4 or anything?
        
           | rvnx wrote:
           | The YouTube frontend downloads the video file (the .mp4) from
           | googlevideo.com/videoplayback and adds it to a locally
           | playable playlist.
           | 
           | However, the implementation is really wacky.
           | 
           | If you are online and you go to watch a video that you have
           | previously downloaded, then instead of serving you the
           | locally cached version through the service worker, instead
           | the frontend redownloads the whole video.
           | 
           | Again, and again, every time you watch it.
           | 
           | So if your goal is to save mobile data, or if your goal is to
           | save a video that might possibly be deleted in the future, it
           | is not working.
        
             | TRiG_Ireland wrote:
             | Does the YouTube app really download the video again each
             | time you play it? I have noticed that downloaded videos
             | always play in full quality. (In fact, that's the main
             | reason I use downloads: play a short, stop it, go to
             | history, download the short, then play it again. Because
             | shorts have no quality control option, and also no download
             | option except from the watch history. Shorts have a very
             | weird and annoying UI. It's also impossible to add them to
             | a playlist.)
        
           | aPoCoMiLogin wrote:
           | its more like download in netflix/spotify where the
           | downloaded content is on your device but not directly
           | accessible, only via the application (or website).
           | 
           | on the other hand, if you have yt premium, you have yt music
        
       | [deleted]
        
         | sacrosancty wrote:
         | [dead]
        
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       (page generated 2023-05-28 23:00 UTC)