here are basically two categories of tools that let you download videos from the Internet. The first category consists of web apps, Zamzar for example, that save a copy of the video on to their own servers and then send you a direct link to download that copy. Then there are desktop-based tools that download videos clips from the video hosting site directly to your computer and also convert it into the required format.
FreeMake for Windows sits in the latter category. It is an extremely easy-to-use software that can grab Flash videos from all the popular video sharing sites with one simple click. Just paste the video URL into the FreeMake window and the tool will do the rest.
FreeMake Video Downloader offers two modes – the one-click download mode will save the video offline using the default settings without pestering you while the standard mode will offer you a choice of video formats before starting the download (see screenshot).
There’s a built-in video converter so you can easily extract the audio from the video files or convert them to smaller formats suitable for playing on your mobile or tablet.
The new version can resume broken downloads which could be handy if you are downloading a large video file on a flaky connection. And it now supports nearly all streaming video sites including Facebook, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Flickr and YouTube.
FreeMake is free software but if use the default installation options, it might add a Facemoods toolbar to your web browser. The toolbar is however optional and you can easily skip it by choosing the Parameters mode, and not Quick Installation, in the setup wizard. The offline installers for the Video Downloader are available at FreeMake.com.
