How to Put a YouTube Video on Your iPod (for free!)

With the help of a bookmarklet on your web browser (Firefox, Opera, or Safari) and iTunes, you can easily and quickly put YouTube videos on your iPod without the need for any other software. With the large amount of videos on YouTube, you will always have something to take with you watch on your iPod.

First, you will need to create the bookmarklet to download the high quality MP4 version of the desired video. Note: the credit for the great javascript behind the bookmarklet goes to Lawrence Albert at Unlock for This. Create a new bookmark, name it (something like YouTube Download) and then copy and paste the following as the location:

javascript:window.location.href='http://youtube.com/get_video?video_id='+swfArgs['video_id']+"&fmt=18"+"&l="+swfArgs['l']+"&sk="+swfArgs['sk']+'&fmt_map'+swfArgs['fmt_map']+'&t='+swfArgs['t'];

or, you can simply drag this link to your bookmark bar:

YouTube Download

Now, go to YouTube and find a video. Once you have browsed to the video’s page, click on the newly created bookmarklet. A download prompt will appear. Accept the prompt to begin downloading. The video will download with the name video.MP4. Rename the file to the appropriate name.

Open iTunes and add the downloaded file to your library. Connect your iPod and sync. Your video will appear in the Movies section on your iPod.

If you own a Microsoft Zune, follow the above steps to create the bookmarklet, download the video and then use your Zune software to convert and sync the video with your device.

No other software is required. Please note that the bookmarklet will not work properly with Internet Explorer.