UPDATE: YouTube has reworked their site in response to this article. If you get an error when trying to download a YouTube video, please try some of the plug-ins and scripts listed in step #3.

YouTube.com is a great resource. Not many sites allows users to freely upload, view, and share video clips like YouTube does. YouTube even lets users easily post videos on their blogs and personal web sites. But because anyone can upload a video clip on YouTube, copyright violations are rampant.

In an effort to prevent the widespread distribution of illegal copied video files, YouTube encodes its video files in the Macromedia Flash format, which prevents viewers from downloading files and making digital copies.

Here’s a step-by-step MethodShop.com tutorial on how to rip video files off YouTube and convert them for an iPod Video, Apple TV, iTunes or iPhone. This trick will work on Mac or PC using Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer.

BeSocial: digg story | methodshop.com