The problem with YouTube videos is that there's always a lot of data flying about, keeping that streaming going. What's comfortable on your desktop is an awful lot for your phone. For example, a humble 3 minute music video might be 10MB or so. So you really don't want to keep downloading the same 10MB for your favourite clips, over and over again. It could get expensive. Or tedious. Or both.

Then there's the issue of long term access. What about those classic rock video clips on YouTube that you know, some day, will get taken down by some over-zealous lawyers. By archiving the clips onto your phone (and also copied across onto your desktop for even safer keeping) you can make sure you still get to watch them. Or even upload them yourself in original Flash video form onto another video site? [keep it (fairly) legal though!....]

Whereas on the desktop you have to jump through a few hoops to get archival access to the Flash video files behind YouTube, on an S60 phone it's easy. There are two YouTube clients and both feature a 'Save' option: emTube (official site has been down for a year now, but it's still up for download here at a fan site) and Mobitubia. Because of the latter's seemingly better longevity, I'm going to be using Mobitubia v1.81 build 5 for this tutorial.

1. Go online, choosing the 'YouTube.com' menu option and find a clip to archive. I like to use 'Clips Search' to scan for matches.
    
    
    
2. Pick a clip and watch it while it downloads (on the N82, N95, etc. - this won't work on Nokia's newer S60 devices which are less powerful) and enjoy.
    
    
    
3. Once the download indicator hits 100%, you can pause playback and use 'Save clip' on the menu. I recommend using the memory card for this, not least because it'll be easier to take the file and use it elsewhere in future. Plus, if you do this a lot, your library of Flash video clips will grow to several hundred Megabytes.
    
   
    
4. Having saved a clip, you can check it's there by backing out of the 'YouTube.com' section of Mobitubia and looking in 'Saved Clips' instead. Here you'll be able to browse through (and play) all your saved YouTube clips.
    
    
    
5. Note the wierd filenames here and there. Mobitubia stores each saved clip in 'Video clips/Mobitubia/YT' with somewhat randomised filenames, along with XML format information about each one. It can put the two together in sensible form, complete with thumbnail graphic, but if you ever need to play these clips from another program on another platform you'll probably want to do a little renaming! The raw FLV files also play fine in S60 from within File manager, as long as your device is fully Flash Lite compatible (most are, these days, with latest firmware).
    
    

So, next time you're bored on the Tube or train, why not flick through your extensive library of YouTube favourites? No data connection or costs needed! 8-)

Steve Litchfield, All About Symbian, 17 Dec 2008