Freemake: YouTube video downloader software review

Freemake is a YouTube downloader tool that allows users to grab videos from the world’s second biggest search engine. The software is free and I recently had the chance to test its functionality and capabilities.

What stands out about Freemake is that it lets users download videos from popular websites such as Dailymotion, Facebook, Vimeo, Veoh, TubePlus, and others. If you're familiar with this space, you'll know that similar software only lets you download videos from YouTube.

A second advantage is that there are no minimum or maximum lengths or file sizes for videos that you want to download. Some YouTube downloaders only work if the video lasts for 10 minutes or less.

“Freemake . . . was founded in 2010,” spokesperson Emma Cooper told Examiner.com. “The company was founded on three major principles which serve as descriptive attributes to Freemake software: free, quality, easy.”

After installing the program, you copy the link from the address bar and click “Paste URL”. The screen shows you the length of the video and prompts you to choose the quality of the video (i.e., HD format) which affects the size of the file. Additionally, you can choose to convert the file to formats such as AVI and WMV, or formats that are compatible with an iPhone, iPad, and Android tablets.

A third advantage is that the software automatically removes ads placed by content owners. Additionally, users have the option to upload videos or music directly to iTunes. Finally, if you’ve ever had experience downloading videos using Torrent networks, the user can be placed in queue (i.e., waiting list) before being allowed to download a file. With Freemake, you can grab the file immediately.

“Usually, we add more features which become available, for example, new video qualities, new output formats, easier or more automatic work with the software,” said Cooper. “Sometimes, we add the support for some specific site which was not supported but asked much by our users . . . . Recently, for example, we added download speed limitation and downloads priority list which is very handy for those who download videos regularly and massively.”

Most users probably utilize such software for personal or recreational use, such as watching episodes while walking on a treadmill at the gym. Actually, this is one of my favorite productivity methods. Why watch episodes or game highlights in front of a television when I can bring it with me to the exercise bike or treadmill? During rush hour traffic, I also download and listen to my favorite talk shows from my Android tablet.

For affiliate marketers and those looking to increase traffic to their sites, Freemake allows you to rip videos embedded from thousands of sites. Obviously, you’d have to navigate through the “fair use” clause of U.S. copyright laws.

Sites such as YouTube usually allow you to post such content especially if episodes have been chopped down to bite-sized clips (such as highlights and recaps) and/or if the video has been altered by video-editing software such as Adobe Elements.

Okay, exercise caution. YouTube’s terms of service actually states that any content that you use, even if manipulated, still belong to the rights holder.

To conclude, here's my top three reasons why I like Freemake:

It's free and easy to use. There are no restrictions on length or file size for downloading a video.
Aesthetically, the program looks good. The company has definitely invested the funds to add features to the software that makes it ergonomic. From a user's perspective, we care about video quality and format because there are all kinds of devices and tablets for storing downloaded videos.
Finally, Freemake works on other popular sites in addition to YouTube.

What about social proof? That is, how has the online community embraced Freemake? As of January 2013, the company’s Facebook page has generated close to 280,000 fans.

For additional information, you can check out the site's official YouTube channel.

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