[nadams]

I'm surprised to see this on HN. This should be called "Illegally download any song".

I think the project is extremely cool and you have props from me - but I hate it when people try to skate the simple fact that stuff like this is illegal. ROMs and emulators have shown up on imgur many times as "free" - like as if the publishers have released the rights to the game(s).

[snx]

This is using youtube-dl, which downloads the youtube video and converts it to an audio file. Not illegal. At least in my country..

[nadams]

I don't know what country you live in - but in the US it's pretty clear on the court's stance on scraping [1]. I'm not saying I agree with it - but that is the legal precedent.

> Although these are early scraping decisions, and the theories of liability are not uniform, it is difficult to ignore a pattern emerging that the courts are prepared to protect proprietary content on commercial sites from uses which are undesirable to the owners of such sites.

Straight from the youtube TOS [2]:

> Content is provided to you AS IS. You may access Content for your information and personal use solely as intended through the provided functionality of the Service and as permitted under these Terms of Service. You shall not download any Content unless you see a “download” or similar link displayed by YouTube on the Service for that Content. You shall not copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, or otherwise exploit any Content for any other purposes without the prior written consent of YouTube or the respective licensors of the Content. YouTube and its licensors reserve all rights not expressly granted in and to the Service and the Content.

It's apparent the RIAA that is also against it [3]. If you ask the RIAA - they will most likely say you did not purchase a legal copy of it - so therefore you shouldn't own a digital copy of it. Thus making it piracy.

It appears my original stance got lost - I'm not saying I agree with it - but these are the cold hard facts.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_scraping#Legal_issues

[2] https://www.youtube.com/t/terms

[3] https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110208/01511613004/is-do...

[bduerst]

The Youtube TOS basically says you can only stream content, and pretty much defines streaming as not downloading for offline or later consumption.

It's about as illegal as violating a TOS.

[zkhalique]

How do you know youtube-dl is not illegal? And where can I find it?

[lcswi]

There are tens of thousands of creative commons songs on youtube.

[andrewguenther]

That doesn't change YouTube's ToS

[slig]

The song is downloaded from YouTube, so it's basically the same as if you went to youtube.com and played it from there, isn't it?

[yincrash]

Downloading a song and playing a song are two different actions.

[Namrog84]

I believe streaming vs downloading has slight implication differences. E.g if they choose to shut it off you can't stream anymore. Or force ads or view counts. Yet in downloaded form you are bypassing those things that have value

[darkstar999]

Not at all similar. They can show you ads if you go to Youtube, it's how they make money. There are no ads when you download it.

[curiousjorge]

how can downloading youtube videos be illegal? roms & emulators are perfectly legal.

if it was illegal why would it still exist publicly?

if something was illegal you bet your ass the USG will take it down.

[Namrog84]

How is that troll behavior?