Downie: Capture Streaming Video on Your Mac

One of my biggest frustrations at meetings is trying to show a video and having to rely on the WiFi  connection at the Greenery Hotel. Often times the bandwidth is insufficient to portray HD quality video or even sometimes SD video. In the past I have relied on KeepVit, but results were either inconsistent or required running Java in the browser, a potential security hazard. So, we have suffered through a lot of stops and starts and buffering.

Well, that's all over now, thanks to a product called Downie. This product can capture and download over 300 streaming sites including YouTube. It can even convert the format and import the video into iTunes for viewing there or to be streamed to Apple TV. It's not free, however. It costs just under $10. There is, however, a 7 day, fully functional, free trial. During my trial period, I attempted to record one the David Pogue videos that are imbedded in the Yahoo Tech site. It didn't work, so I contacted the developer. He replied to me within hours and said that site would be included within the next release. Two days later, I updated the app and it worked perfectly with Yahoo Tech. That's what I call support! When I find a fantastic product that has terrific support, I buy it. Isn't that why we buy Apple products in the first place?   

There's a browser extension for Safari that makes the capture process even easier than dragging and dropping the URL into the Downie window. If you have reason to capture and keep streaming video content, this is the app that will do it with simplicity and perfection.

http://software.charliemonroe.net/downie/

-Bill