There are several options when it comes to downloading music and videos from the Internet. Some websites use weak or no encryption at all which means it is possible to download the media directly from within the web browser. Other websites and services protect the media by encrypting it which makes it harder to actually download the files to the local computer system.

There are several software programs available that can download from most music and video portals and services. A very versatile one that is automating the process as much as possible is Tubemaster++. Tubemaster++ is a Java application that is using the packet capturing network monitor WinPcap.

The software program will automatically capture music and videos once the application is up and running. All the user needs to do is to visit a media site, service or software and start playing the media from there. Tubemaster recognizes the media and will display it in its interface. The software works with many services including Youtube, Last.fm, Pandora, Imeem and many more. The only restriction is that the service needs to stream the music to the computer system.

The music and videos can be saved in their original format or converted in the software program to common formats like avi or mp3. There are presets for some popular devices like Apple’s iPod, Blackberries, the Playstation 3 and dozens of other devices.

A video and mp3 search is provided in the program itself which makes it very comfortable to find specific music or videos. The search results are displayed in the program but open in the default web browser where they can be played.

Tubemaster++ (via Freeware Genius) is a very comfortable program to download videos and music from the Internet. The program is compatible with Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7. It requires Java and WinPcap to run (which are provided if they are not installed).

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The proxy setting has to be configured in the web browser so that all http traffic is routed through the localhost proxy at port 8800. Firefox users would click on Tools > Options > Advanced > Network > Settings to open the proxy configuration.

They would then select the manual proxy configuration and enter localhost and port 8800 under HTTP Proxy. They should make sure to revert the settings to No Proxy again when they stop using Freezer.

The program requires the user’s presence because the download dialog will pop up whenever the user clicks on play on any of the supported music portals. This works nicely with the various radio stations at Deezer and playlists in general.

Downloads are pretty fast, they never took more than a few seconds during tests. Freezer is probably best for users who like to download a few selected songs from those music portals. Should work nicely with an instant proxy changer or autoscripts that automatically save the files.

The author explicitly states that the software is not intended to download copyrighted music but only music that is freely available.

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The source code does not reveal lots of information about the location of the song which means I once again have to fire up Grab++ to grab the real url of the song and download it. All big music portals use randomized songs these days which are generated when a user requests the song. They are available for a short period of time only which means that time is essential.

Download Orbit Downloader if you have not done so already and start Grab++ from the Tools menu. Grab++ sits there analyzing the Internet connection waiting for multimedia links. All links to multimedia files are listed in Grab++ and can be send to the Orbit Download manager to be downloaded directly to your computer. Grab++ has to be started before you load the Imeem page that contains the music that you want to download.

The download should be started immediately after discovering the link in Grab++ to avoid a timeout. If you get a timeout and the download does not finish delete it and try again.

Imeem uses ridiculously large filenames with the flv (flash video) extension. Make sure you rename the downloaded music from Imeem to be able to recognize it later on.

You might want to convert the flv file to mp3 afterwards. A great software that does this is the Freez Flv to Mp3 Converter

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I suggest to use the combination of Grab++ and Orbit Downloader. Grab++ is integrated in Orbit Downloader which means that you will only have to download the latter to have both softwares at your disposal. Start Grab++ and visit Myspace. Go to a band’s website on myspace. Usually a song will begin to play automatically. Bring Grab++ to the front and click on the Music tab in the top bar.

A large random looking filename with the extension mp3 should be in that list. This is the song that is currently playing on Myspace. All you need to do is check that song and click on Download. This opens the download dialog of Orbit Downloader. I suggest to change the name of the mp3 so that you can remember the artist and song title.

The download should be finished in a matter of seconds and you are ready to click on the next song. Once that is playing you repeat the steps in Grab++.

The same technique can be used to download music from other social music portals like Imeem and iJigg. This is by far the best and easiest way that I know of.

Read More:

Orbit Downloader

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All you need is to start Free Music Zilla and play a song on MySpace or any of the other mentioned social music websites. The software will automatically recognize that a song is played and grab all the details needed automatically from the stream. All you need to do is to mark the file and click on download.

Let me walk you through an example on Myspace.

Download Songs from Myspace:

Start Free Music Zilla and open your favorite browser and point it to myspace.com. Once there open a bands homepage and play one of the songs in the Myspace music player. Bring Free Music Zilla back to the front and notice that the mp3 that is currently playing on the Myspace website is listed there.

Just check the box in front of that mp3 and click on download. The default download location for mp3 that you download is c:\download, you might want to change that in the options.

You notice several other values in the listing. The filename has to be changed manually unfortunately because Myspace is using that random mp3 name script to avoid direct links to their mp3 songs. The Leech Timeout displays the time that you have to start the mp3 download. You need to play the mp3 again on Myspace if you did not make it in that time.

The Myspace mp3 downloads were incredibly fast. I hit the download button and it said completed almost immediately. Not sure how fast it is on slower connections though. The music needs to be playing during the download, make sure it is because the download will fail otherwise.

Conclusion:

Free Music Zilla offers the easiest way to download mp3 from Myspace and other social music sites. If I could correct one thing I would uncheck all mp3 files that I already downloaded automatically but this is only a minor issue.

It has a major limitation though. This version allows the user to download ten mp3 per day which is simply not enough. The Orbit Downloader team which is also developing Free Music Zilla will soon implement a way to download mp3 from within their free client supposedly without limitations.

Read More:

Free Music Zilla

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