Tooble.tv: 5 High School Students Stick It to the Man with Online Video Downloader
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So, Sony BMG doesn't want you to embed that AC/DC concert footage in your blog or grab the audio from that footage as an MP3? They'd probably have a fit if if you stored that footage as an MP4 on your computer and distributed it wherever you liked or - worse yet - remixed it to your heart's content.
Thanks to Tooble.tv, a fascinating tool that plays footsie with all kinds of copyright law, you can do all of the above and more. Only high school students would have the audacity (or sheer naivete) to pull off a stunt like this.
That's right: Tooble was developed by five high school students in Wallingford, Connecticut. We applaud their ingenuity and hope for their continued success, but we are rightfully concerned about the potential uses and the future of this product.
Tooble runs as a desktop app. It makes downloading online video and converting it to MP4 files as simple as cutting and pasting a URL. The app also allows for conversion of audio tracks in the videos to stand-alone MP3s. The free version of the software runs on Mac and Windows and allows for YouTube downloads; the Pro version, priced for impulse purchases at around $6, works for a multitude of video-hosting sites.
Users can search for videos or browse through the prescribed YouTube categories in the free version of the software.
To test the app, we downloaded an embedding-disabled video of Johnny Cash's The Wall, a song that details a prison experience we hope the creators and users of Tooble won't have to replicate. Grabbing the MP4 took about a minute. We were able to open the file in our video editor and play around with it a bit. After our remixing was done, we were moreover able to upload our creation to Vimeo:
We're hard pressed to think of more than a handful of legal use cases for this software. Much like P2P or BitTorrent software, this app creates a maelstrom of legal and moral questions. And calling to mind the sufferings of the Pirate Bay team and Napster, we wonder what's in store for the kids who created Tooble.
What do you think? As much fun as it is to grab others' videos, do you think users have a legal right to be able to store, remix, and redistribute online video and audio content created by others? Is Tooble.tv essentially software that encourages and enables illegal behavior? Let us know in the comments.
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Comments
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I'm not interested in remixing YouTube videos. I use Tooble all the time simply to download YouTube videos to my iPhone, where I can watch them without being tied to my computer. It's time-shifting, which has been held a fair use since Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417 (1984).
Jim, you're right. That's one of the handful of legal use cases we could think of.
Just downloaded this app to check it out. While cool, it's nothing new. I've had another application that does essentially the same thing for about a year. It's called TubeTV. You can't "re-mix" YouTube videos on it, but I dunno why anyone would want to honestly. As far as the legality of it? I agree with Jim above. This should fall into the fair use category in my opinion.
Maybe I'm just cynical about the greedy, inhuman institutions of the corporate music world, but I'd say that the generally exploitative practices of most major labels is a greater moral issue than this virtual raised fist.
But then there is a lot of independently created content by starving artists that could easily be hijacked with this, so it's kind of a conundrum.
Awesome that it was high school kids though.
Downloaded and used to put videos on my Windows Mobile phone, worked flawlessly.
As for the legal side of things, lets just say this isn't going to fly and it is a very gutsy move. While I believe it falls within the realm of fair-use if you are downloading a video for your phone lets say, the problem lies in the ability to re-upload those videos.
Granted, if you re-uploaded the video to Youtube they would recognize the video and apply advertisements and said restrictions that the labels want.
So what it comes down to is how Tooble advertises itself. Does it advertise itself as a way to circumvent restrictions and what have you like the Pirate Bay did? Or is it going to be like Google, you technically can download illegal torrents and what have you but they aren't being charged with it, why? Cause they don't advertise themselves in that way. Right now Tooble just simply states you can download any video, it does not state specifically that you can download "restricted videos" or even tout that as a specific feature in any way, which proves that these High School students are very far from naive.
Also, +10,000 points for them actually having some sort of revenue model.
cool app! allowing enthusiasts to mash, mix or use portions of video and/or music from videos is a natural progression, something to be embraced - finding a legal balance is worth solving sooner than later.
My friend Tim has been selling several Mac apps that do just that: http://www.tastyapps.com/
At the end of the day - what's the point of downloading stuff and saving it to a hard drive if the media is available on demand any time any where?
Wow... It looks like the proverbial barn that holds all the recording industries horses has so many doors that easiely open, that even kids can do it now! This is great!
It's the beginning of the end for the industry, and it's been that way ever since video cassette tapes could first record...
Of course once most of the horses again get out the industry will again close another barn door... And I'm thinking it won't be long before the industry sets the whole barn on fire in order to collect on the insurance!
The hard line (morally) on this is that it is a tool. I can use it to illegal things or immoral things or neither of these.
The hard line (legally, at least where I live) is that there are fair use provisions that, for example, enable me to include text, words, music from copyright material.
Many US courts have interpreted DMCA laws to mean that there is to be NO COPYING AT ALL. This directly contradicts both case law and other federal statutes.
Awesome, gotta test it now. :)
i like this blog and iwill viset agen thanke you
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It is hard to think of justifiable uses for such software but it sure looks like they can become the software geniuses that will keep us competitive. Stifling them will allow the Russians and Chinese to keep improving and marginalize these kids. Nurturing them, may produce the next generation of of Einstein(s) or Hawkins or better.
There should be awards for these types of youngsters and a community to reach out and ask them to show us their stuff.
My 5 year old brings home her precious art from school and I praise her efforts. There simply has to be a way to explain there are lots of things we can do but that doesn't mean we should.
They simply have grown up in a culture where everything is free.
I know the schools have largely eliminated art, music, after school clubs, even gym. They must have time to teach 10 minutes of ethics, daily. Not religion, that is up to every family and ultimately, the child to decide.
Just ethics.
I can just imagine the controversy if these kids were first to invent the knife, or matches. Think of all the horrible things that can be done with these tools. No matter that there is even one innocent use. Our government has become our masters. We must ask permission. Don't forget to ask permission.
I can't say anything about tooble but your video is fantastic :)
Video downloader will be not be leagal.
http://www.ordertheflowersonline.com/telaflora
Youtube terms of use strictly prohibit uploading of copyright protected materials. Since this program is designed to download from copyright free materials legally allowed on Youtube, then there should be no legal problems for the creators of this application.
Youtube terms of use strictly prohibit uploading of copyright protected materials. Since this program is designed to download from copyright free materials legally allowed on Youtube, then there should be no legal problems for the creators of this application.
Bywifi Video Downloader is better. http://www.bywifi.com/
Bywifi Video Downloader (Bywifi Video Accelerator) is a free program for downloading, transcoding and accelerating video streaming. It supports downloading, transcoding and P2P accelerating videos from all video websites, such as Youtube, Dailymotion, Metacafe, MySpace, Yahoo, Justin.tv, etc. Lots of advanced network technologies like P2SP (peer-to-server-and-peer), multiple tasks, web sensitive, intelligence caching are used in the software. The bitrate of video streaming is 3-5 times faster with Bywifi than without it. Moreover, it can transcode videos into mobile formats for mobile phones and PDA.
Sorry to say this, but these kids will most likely all end up in prison for a few years. I've already turned their names over to the authorities as well as google, and the FBI intends to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
No matter how 'enterprising' these kids may seem. they are nothing more than common thieves. I'm sure they will moan and whine during their minimum 3 year stay in prison, but from the looks of the pictures I've seen of them they'll make nice prison bitches. I'm pretty sure at least one of the is gay by the looks of it. And the indian one will have a great time getting the crap smacked out of him by the real blacks.