Show HN: My iOS App, YouTunes Live, lets you stream any audio from YouTube | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: My iOS App, YouTunes Live, lets you stream any audio from YouTube

itunes.apple.com

13 pointsspeedyapoc9 comments

I'm not a lawyer, but I think that just using the audio from youtube videos is a violation of the youtube api terms.

You can read their terms here: https://developers.google.com/youtube/terms

Specifically they say it is prohibited to "separate, isolate, or modify the audio or video components of any YouTube audiovisual content made available through the YouTube API;"

and it is prohibited to

"promote separately the audio or video components of any YouTube audiovisual content made available through the YouTube API;"

Like I said, I'm not a lawyer so my interpretation could be wrong.

I think in a nutshell they want you displaying the video because they have their own ads in the videos, and just streaming the audio cuts into their revenue.

Hate to be a wet blanket but I recently built a service using the YouTube API (http://chartbrain.com) and so the terms were fairly fresh in my mind.

I think other services that used only the audio from YouTube have run into trouble - songza comes to mind, they were one of the first sites to do it. http://www.wired.com/listening_post/2007/11/songza-turns-yo/

I didn't realize that Songza used to do that, or that they'd pivoted their product as much as they have. Their current stuff is pretty great.

And yes, this is a perfect example of the types of use of the YouTube API that are specifically disallowed by their terms. They very much do not like when apps do this.

Looks awesome -- downloaded. :)

PS -- I didn't realize you can fetch only the sound part of the youtube file without downloading the video... is that an accurate assumption?

It is purely for streaming the audio of the video. You can even background the audio when the device is locked or when the application is not in the foreground.

I think he's asking if it only downloads the audio, or both the audio and video and strips the audio. I'd like to know too.

Oops, my bad, I guess I read that wrong. It downloads the audio and video content, so each streamed video comes to around 40mb.

Neat app - I love the functionality and the smooth design, and the fact that it seems really intuitive.

It was one of the goals to be extremely intuitive and easy to use, so I'm glad that that planning paid off. Some tips for lesser known features, swipe to the left on an item to remove it from your Library or playlist. Also, tap and hold on an item in your Library or playlist to see its metadata and information.

Good idea, great app.

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