I just noticed that the AI-driven audio transcriber, MacWhisper, has an option that will download YouTube videos. I haven’t tried it yet, but my guess is that it uses something like the open-source youtube-dl behind the scenes. The combination of downloading and transcribing YouTube videos may be worth a look.
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wow, thanks for sharing that!
I use MacWhisper frequently and had no idea of this capability.
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The MacWhisper option is in Settings… > General > YouTube > Prefer video downloads.
The default download location is
~/Library/Application\ Support/MacWhisper/Database/ExternalMedia/
Could this topic add some snowballing/weight to a current review of how people are storing stuff at home? I still have an empty slot in my Mac mini’s dock/stand that is waiting for a solid drive storage card – what’s the current best advice on what to use, especially for holding video and audio ?
See External drive recommendation - #11 by mpainesyd
I am happy with the M.2 SSD solution
NVMe/PCIe flash (M.2 SSD) is the way to go.
The only downside is the cost since flash memory has become so expensive lately. The days of $70 for 2 TB are gone.
But if you can afford the NVMe flash (not SATA!), get it and enjoy. Nothing will beat it in terms of performance, silent ops, convenience, and longevity. Even TB4/USB4 cases these days are quite inexpensive (this thing is $40 or this one for $31 and unlike USB3-based solutions these support SMART), especially compared to how expensive the actual flash (this low-end Crucial is $260 for 2TB) has become.
Your expected usage is also important. If you’re going to be doing editing on those A/V files, then high performance (e.g, an NVMe SSD) will be important.
If, however, this is primarily going to be use for media playback (download and save it once, then only play it), performance won’t matter all that much.
The peak data rate of a video DVD is about 10 Mbit/s and the peak rate of a Blu-Ray movie disc is about 48 Mbit/s (6 MB/s). So for a playback-only device, you only need to keep up with 6 MB/s, which is well within the capabilities of all but the slowest devices.
So a SATA SSD or even a HDD should be OK for this usage. I would make a purchase decision based mostly on reliability and price, knowing that performance won’t matter all that much.
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My advice remains to avoid SATA since macOS offers no SMART support for drives attached via SATA over USB. You will always prefer to be able to read out the self diagnostics your drive offers — especially if you’re contemplating a HDD considering the many non-trivial ways in which those deteriorate and fail. Lots of delicate moving parts. You would want to know what’s up with all that at any given time.
NeoFinder has a shared catalog format with AbeMeda app on the PC. Back when I used both Mac and Windows at work, it was terrific to see the common format pay off on a daily basis.
Thanks for this. A company called Digiarty used to offer several video products including one called Macx YouTube video downloader. However, I just checked their site and it doesn’t seem to be available any longer.