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How-To: Download Music Videos from Yahoo Launch with VLC

Posted in AV, Howto, Tech by Derek at 12:01 pm

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Update 10/16: The updated tutorial for download music videos from Yahoo! Launch is here: How-To: Downloading Yahoo! Music Videos with Firefox & VLC.

Update 9/13: How-To: Play WMV files in iTunes [OSX]

Update 9/12: Adam was kind enough to point out that the .WMV extension can be added to the raw file dump from within VLC.

  1. Copy the mms:// address into the Open Network box. Check the “Advanced Output” box and click “Settings…”
  2. Cleck the “File” radio button, then check the “Dump Raw Input” box. In the “Encapsulation Method” dropdown menu, select “Raw”.
  3. Click the “Browse…” button. In the “Save As…” box, enter your desired filename, then add “.wmv”; i.e. filename.wmv. Select a location in which you’d like to save the file, then click “OK”, “OK” again, and “OK” one last time. The stream will dump directly into a WMV.

OK. So I drafted up the previous tutorial for downloading music videos from Yahoo using Flashget yesterday afternoon. After a few hours, I realized that I was not being fair to OSX users. Or any other OS users for that matter. I sat and thought how it might be possible for others to download the same videos from Yahoo. Light bulb! Use VLC! I’ll try to keep this tutorial a little shorter. If you don’t have a copy of the VLC media player, download your copy from here [v0.8.2].

You want to use the same process of identifiying the video ID for whatever music video you want to download. Drop that ID into Stricky’s script (Similar to Stream King’s utility) to find the mms:// URI. Copy the 300K mms:// URI and open up VLC. If you have no clue what I’m talking about concerning the video ID or Stream King, read the previous How-To: Download Music Videos from Yahoo Launch with Flashget.

In VLC go to ‘File’ > ‘Open Network Stream’. Choose HTTP / HTTPS / FTP / MMS and paste the 300K mms:// URI into the empty field. Check the ‘Stream Output’ box and click ‘Settings’.

In the ‘Stream Output’ > ‘Output methods’ preferences, check the ‘File’ and ‘Dump raw output’ box. Next use the ‘Browse’ option to name the file and choose a save path. Click ‘OK’ to return to the previous preference window. Click ‘OK’ once more and VLC will begin downloading the raw file. VLC will look like it’s playing a file. The progress bar which usually shows play time will actually display the download progress. Because we’re downloading the raw output, you’ll need to add the appropriate file extension. Since Yahoo Music uses the .wmv file format, add the .wmv extension to the raw file so you can view the complete 320 x 240 music video in VLC… Or WMP.

I know the screenshots are from a Windows box. Don’t worry. VLC settings are the same across the board for Windows and OSX… And Linux. I figured people prefered options.

83 Comments, Comment or Trackback

  1. cyrus

    Mad props for the info man but i was intrested in the 700k stream that sbc yahoo customers get. Is there anyway to find the mms feed for the higher quiality vids, if so can u post a way. Thanks again and mad props man cause you just made my partys a lot more fun.

    Aug 30th, 2005

  2. Derek Punsalan

    I had no idea that SBC Yahoo customers had access to a 700K stream. That doesn’t sound fair for the rest of Yahoo Music users.

    Aug 31st, 2005

  3. cajita

    Do you have the vlc windows command line format used to do the same thing?

    Aug 31st, 2005

  4. Derek Punsalan

    I’ll have to look into the command line format. Not sure if you checked the reference here, or through vlc –help. I’ll update the post when I figure out what the command is for opening a network stream. –mms-all.

    Aug 31st, 2005

  5. Jim Bevenhall

    …The regular way (in linux, at least) to do this is with mplayer. (’mplayer -dumpstream “mms://…’)

    Sep 1st, 2005

  6. furiousd

    Any word yet on the 700k streams?

    Sep 1st, 2005

  7. fred

    have can i download movie free

    Sep 3rd, 2005

  8. Derek Punsalan

    @fred: Just follow the directions I posted above. It works.

    Sep 3rd, 2005

  9. Anonymous

    the link is dead, adams page wich generated the script

    Sep 5th, 2005

  10. Derek Punsalan

    Stricky is having hosting problems right now. It’ll be up once everything is sorted out.

    Sep 5th, 2005

  11. David Beck

    The link to Stricky’s Script is dead….:( so is ther another site that would work?

    Sep 5th, 2005

  12. Derek Punsalan

    People… As soon as Stricky’s is back up we’ll see about mirroring the script. Right now there are no alternativs. Sit tight. I exchanged a few emails with Stricky and he has some more up his sleeve.

    Sep 5th, 2005

  13. compn

    http://atlantisboy.hostrocket.com/aolstream.php
    for aol streams

    http://www.strix.org.uk/misc/launch.yahoo/launch_streams.php
    for yahoo streams

    http://p084.ezboard.com/fstreemeboxvcrfrm1
    for everything else on streaming media recording with multiple programs, multiple platforms, multiple ways :)

    Sep 6th, 2005

  14. Chris

    Thank goodness for Yahoo cache

    Sep 6th, 2005

  15. Derek Punsalan

    @Chris: Ironic isn’t it? Yahoo upset with the tutorial and caching a copy. So yes folks, if you want to find the write up, you can reference Yahoo’s or Google’s cache.

    And now back up :)

    Sep 6th, 2005

  16. yomismo

    los d yahoo son un pelin cortos…

    Sep 7th, 2005

  17. Ben Ball

    I have extracted the raw file but how do you add a .wmv extention?

    Sep 7th, 2005

  18. spike

    if ne1 can find a way to get past websence blockpages plz email it to me my email is crimson_teared_angel@yahoo.com

    Sep 7th, 2005

  19. Ben Ball

    If anyone knows how to add a .wmv extention please tell me

    Sep 7th, 2005

  20. Derek Punsalan

    @Ben: Right click on the raw file and choose rename. Add the .wmv to the end of the file and it will turn into a media file.

    Sep 7th, 2005

  21. Derek Punsalan

    @Ben: Right click on the raw file, choose rename, then add the .wmv extension.

    Sep 7th, 2005

  22. von

    Seguis siendo unos anglopiratas asquerosos con patentes de corso. Porque Yahoo no demanda este ¿block? Putos Güiris

    Sep 8th, 2005

  23. pirras

    Hey! I can only play the video from the beginning? Can u fast forward?

    Sep 9th, 2005

  24. Derek Punsalan

    Move the slider in the video player forward.

    Sep 9th, 2005

  25. Mafo

    when i click ok, ok in VLC for the last two steps it doesn’t do anything in VLC, any suggestions?

    Sep 9th, 2005

  26. Mafo

    nevermind, got it working, i was an idiot, thanks for the great tut :]

    Sep 9th, 2005

  27. Ben Ball

    whenever i stream anything it never looks like its playing and i end up with a 1kb file which when i add an extention to and try to play it it jst says “the file you are attempting to play has an extention which does not match the format”
    Please help me if you have any idea whats going on

    Sep 10th, 2005

  28. Ben Ball

    never mind i copyed the whole url from the script instead of just the bit starting with mms

    Sep 10th, 2005

  29. Esona

    Hey Derek-
    Awesome work with getting the addresses. I’ve been recently looking up how to do that myself for a program- one that would both get the address of the actual video, and download it for you. Interested in lending a hand for this… uh, ahem, Educational experience? ;)
    I’ll check back from time to time, or you can email me.

    Sep 10th, 2005

  30. Andrew

    I just keep getting a short clip of britany spears, any suggestions.

    Sep 11th, 2005

  31. nessa

    hey sup guys watcha all up to well holla back at 15/f/b.c anybody

    Sep 15th, 2005

  32. garry

    i’ve got a dial-up conection. Wud VLC work properly?

    Sep 15th, 2005

  33. Derek Punsalan

    @garry: Dialup will work. As long as you have a reliable connection. It’ll be slow though since the videos are 11 - 14 MB a piece.

    @nessa: Maybe we should start a special part of the site for dating? UNEASYdating? j/k.

    Sep 15th, 2005

  34. cfv

    sand

    Sep 16th, 2005

  35. michelle

    u should set up a dating chatline

    Sep 18th, 2005

  36. stephen

    I am a fat head

    Sep 18th, 2005

  37. Cheryl

    Hey there… I have tried everything you said and still can not get the video. When I go on Stricky’s site and put in the code where am I supposed to get the URl? I have downloaded both flashget and the other one and I still am unable to get it to work. Is there problems with the site or what am I doing wrong? Can you help

    Thanks

    Sep 19th, 2005

  38. Derek Punsalan

    @Cheryl: You need to copy the MMS:// URI. It’ll be in the 300K/700K stream box. I just checked the site and it’s running just fine.

    Sep 19th, 2005

  39. gts2005

    They have removed the yahoo link from strix website where we could previously download the 700K version from there.

    Is there an alternative method to download the 700K stream..

    Sep 24th, 2005

  40. Derek

    @gts: We’re working on alternative method to a web based script.

    Sep 25th, 2005

  41. Music-Lover

    Hey guys…

    The EASIEST way to download ANY music video online, even Yahoo Launch, Msn, Google…etc is by using the FREE demo of WM Recorder found here http://www.applian.com/wmr/ Just use the free demo.

    All you have to do is watch the video for 1 second and the program automatically detects the url to the music video (network packet sniffer) and will download it to any place you want. NO need to find the url, just watch 1 second of the video, adn POOF it is downloaded on your desktop.

    The EASIEST way to watch the video without the ad is go to a free music video code site, watch the video for 1 sec, and poof it’s yours without having to suffer the 30 second ad.

    This is SOOOOO Easy! Again, just watch 1 second of the video, and the program will download it to your desktop, works with EVERY site including Yahoo, MSN, Google… There is NO site online that this program can’t get the video.

    Try it for FREE!

    Sep 26th, 2005

  42. Javier Pastrana|

    You are great!!!!! realy, was tired of downoading bad resolution videos from limewire than you!!!!!!

    Oct 19th, 2005

  43. DJI

    Last note from Stricky’s site:

    I’ve taken this page down following a cease and desist from Yahoo! UK, the source code is no longer available. I dont have the resources or the will to take Yahoo! on in court, sorry everyone. On the positive side several people have written in to tell me they’re working on replacement services, so take heart you may soon have a range of new and better tools to play with :-) I dont plan to link those here for legal reasons, so keep your ear to the ground at UNEASYsilence and the the streaming media recording forum. Lots of useful skills and contacts in these places. Keep on groovin’.
    strix

    Oct 28th, 2005

  44. a.di.das.

    once i get the ID i cant acces to that page “http://www.strix.org.uk/misc/launch.yahoo/launch_streams.php”, i wonder… are there any other way for finding the url mms addres?

    Nov 16th, 2005

  45. Ben Ball

    seen as strikys script is pretty much ded now ive found theres a much simpler way of streaming. if you go on http://www.videocodezone.com/ find the video you want and then copy the “insert into your space” text (yes all of it) you can then paste that into the html box of a microsoft frontpage website in between the two “” things. Then save your page and when it asks you to save embedded files (thats the video)then save it as you want your video to be and hey presto you have your video. Ive tried extracting the right URI (from the my space box thing) for the video and putting it into VLC but i can’t get it to work maybe someone with any brains can.

    Dec 2nd, 2005

  46. Ben Ball

    Ok then you open the 1kb file with win media (yes i did get it rong b4) and you right clik on the playlist icon for it and click properties this will give you the entire URI for it that you can then put in VLC. And it turns out most of them are yahoo URI’s anyway wooooh beat the system!

    Dec 2nd, 2005

  47. Ben Ball

    Fine so its not simpler but it works

    Dec 2nd, 2005

  48. RVC85

    I can’t save streams with VLC, i follow all the steps correctly but when i select ok nothing happens, it doesn’t start downloading the video. I can view the videos but not save them.

    Dec 7th, 2005

  49. Badda Dan

    Strikly link what is going on for it, i know off the Wm recoder i even cracked it once but now it does not download. How else can i obtain the MMS:// URI? Needs It

    Dec 9th, 2005

  50. Simon

    Hey strikys script doesnt work is there any other one that will

    Dec 10th, 2005

  51. Suckers

    it works on my ass

    Dec 31st, 2005

  52. software

    Yahoo! on in court, sorry everyone. On the positive side several people have written in to tell me they’re working on replacement services, so take heart you may soon have a range of new and better tools to play with I dont plan to link those here for legal reasons, so keep your ear to the ground

    Jan 11th, 2006

  53. Jordan

    Guys, how do i get the mms:// address? where do i find it?

    Jan 25th, 2006

  54. unknown

    you can always look inthe temp file in windows under the documents and settings folder and look under your name folder or it could be called owner.
    then make sure you turn off the hiden folders under [tools] at the top under folder options and view there is a green dot select the one to show them.
    Now look under the shaded folder local settings and look in the internet temp folder there you should find the mms file but it won’t copy or show up as a mms file it should look like a wmv file with alot of other characters in the file.
    You just right click it and open properties and copy the files name as that is the mms link then past it in one of the metioned programs and let it download.
    one file would look like this:
    sims2open_gp_pc2_012406_700.wmv#0;1.000;0;0;1:2;2:2
    in the temp folder
    asx files work too donwload the asx link that you find in the temp fold wich looks like a WMP file and then open it with word pad and copy the mms or wmv link fomr that.

    Jan 30th, 2006

  55. murda

    can yall guys help me out…
    see, i downloaded MASS DOWNLOADER (really good) but i dont know how to download stream videos from Yahoo Launch…it starts downloading the video in FILE extansion…
    how to i get it to Real or Windows Media extansions

    Feb 1st, 2006

  56. murda

    ma bad
    i didnt read the last message
    sorry

    thanks 4 the info “unknown”

    Feb 10th, 2006

  57. Aaron

    is there a way to burn them to a dvd?

    Feb 24th, 2006

  58. SK8

    Hey, to all you people who can’t get the damn mms, use lyfox.download it at http://fernyb.2ya.com/
    Peace!

    Mar 10th, 2006

  59. Rabab

    used a Panasonic digital viewcam to record a movie but when i connect it to winxp the file is autprint.mrk. i’ve looked up .mrk: apparently it’s a Markup - Informative Graphics file??? does anybody know how to convert it so that windows will play it or where to get a driver/codec for windows
    please help me!!!!!!!!1

    Mar 20th, 2006

  60. SK8

    Rabab, Find a converter.
    Go to google and type the following

    mrk to wmv converter

    Try and see if it works

    Apr 15th, 2006

  61. hery

    thank for leting me do these

    Apr 29th, 2006

  62. Lee

    Derek, I new at this. Can you teach me step by step since no matter how I read your tuturial I still have no Idea.

    May 26th, 2006

  63. Lee

    What do I have to download first? you mentioned a VLC and I just downloaded a VLC media player 0.8.5 something like that. Is that right? Hoping for your reply. Thanks!

    May 27th, 2006

  64. Vortexo

    Hello, I’ve been trying to download the stream using VLC, but it keeps freezing half way. Any ideas on how to get around this?

    Jul 14th, 2006

  65. addie

    hey man
    VLC behaves as though theres some problem
    when i say OK it just behaves like a dumbass
    how to solve this???
    please reply on my ID addie_metallica@yahoo.co.uk

    Jul 21st, 2006

  66. Stephanie

    used a Panasonic digital camcorfer to record my sisters WEDDING!!but when i connect it to my computer the file is autprint.mrk. I downloaded VLC Media player and it still wont play Can You Please Help ME?????

    Aug 10th, 2006

  67. nanda

    hi,

    how to download music and videos from internet, please suggest me step by step procedure.

    bye ,

    nanda…

    Aug 18th, 2006

  68. Tony N.

    This method doesn’t seem to work anymore. Anyone got anything new?

    Sep 9th, 2006

  69. Anonymous

    The one method I depend on is using this program called LyFox and Flashget.

    Go to this website http://www.fernyb.net/ and download LyFox. Then go to this website http://flashget.com/ to download FlashGet.

    Once both are done downloading, open up LyFox and search for the video you want.

    Double click the video name and down in a box a mms:// address should pop up. Copy.

    Open flashet, and where it says “downloaded” go to the space that says URL, click and paste. A box should pop up. Click OK

    The video should start downloading and show progress in the box at the right corner of your screen. After it is finished, open the destination folder and open up the file. It should be able to play.

    (Note: sometimes the video addresses don’t work, but in most cases it does. Also, I find that Yahoo are very limited on some of their videos, so if you want, on that same website , http://www.fernyb.net/ , go download the program GAMV, which will provide you music videos that can be found on AOL music.)

    Good Luck!

    Sep 17th, 2006

  70. brandon

    i started watching a movie on my vlc media player, i had turn it off to go out, and now it wont play anything, how do i fix the problem

    Oct 31st, 2006

  71. dave

    hey…ive got a few questions. i only see 0.19kb on the page info screen when i go to save it and never seem to get the time log under vlc in the view file. i can’t get the file to download it just goes for a slpit second and stops. also there is no info under the time log, blank. doesn’t say video file or anything. i got a file downloaded once but it was just the audio. is there a way to downlod it straight to mpg format. thanks, i don’t know what im doing wrong

    Feb 7th, 2007

  72. Down_to_Earth

    is there any possible to downlod music video from other regions, such as from yahoo korea or japan??

    Mar 6th, 2007

  73. Vincent

    Does this work still? where do I get that MMS address? I see that this guide was written on 2005.. I was wondering if you found another way to do this.

    Thanks!

    May 4th, 2007

  74. simon

    the aol link dosnt work

    is there another one

    May 24th, 2007

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