Dirpy : an excellent web tool to rip MP3s from YouTube

OK, I know it is not right to rip music off the web instead of buying CDs and pouring money into the record labels. BUT YouTube does offer an extensive library of music clips, some ripped from CDs, others recorded from concerts by users and some extracted from archival footage (tapped from TV on VHS?).

There are 2 main reasons why I like to extract these from the web (i.e YouTube) onto my own PC. Firstly, despite improved internet connection, on rare occasions, outages still occur. And then there are days when access to YouTube is simply slow. And then sometimes, clips are taken out by the user or due to copyright issues. Secondly, I want to be able to store the files on my portable audio device.

So what is an easy way to rip MP3s from YouTube clips? The answer is Dirpy, an online service that provides an excellent solution. One can go to their web page and use their search to locate the YouTube clip, or simply paste the YouTube URL into the service box. Dirpy then loads the clip and offers the user some options including modifying the ID3 tag data, filename and where to save the file (see screenshot). To make life even simpler, one can use the Dirpy bookmarklet and directly go to the options page from the YouTube clip page itself.

That’s all one has to do.

The encoding and download speeds are decent, roughly 1 minute for a 4MB file. I can live with that.

Like 90% of web services, Dirpy is in beta. Highly recommended.

aNobii : an excellent Web 2.0 book tracker

Despite spending numerous hours each day at my PC, and despite utilizing a fair number of so-called Web 2.0 services, I haven’t come across a local Hong Kong service . . . till last week. The site in question is called aNobii.

Situated in Hong Kong, aNobii offers a useful book tracking service. Users register for a free account and immediately start entering books and various details like whether they have started reading or finished the book. The usual social networking features are present – one can invite friends, create and join groups with specific topics, as well as explore neighbours, i.e. users with similar bookshelves. Other expected features include tagging, rating titles and numerous ways to sort the bookshelves. You can also see how many users own a title and how they rate it (if they have finished reading the book).

Where aNobii distinguishes itself is in ease of use. Even non-techies should have no problems with this site. Entering books is very simple – just type in the ISBN codes at the back of the title or do a search which yields very decent results – and the site will generate the rest. I entered books I read recently (most of them in 2007) which amounted to 70+ titles and the database managed to recognize all of them via ISBN codes. Impressive.

The site is well designed too. Layout is clean, simple and easy on the eyes. The major downside at the moment seems to slow loading pages and occasionally outages. Then again the site is in beta like nearly all Web 2.0 offerings, so hiccups are expected.

As I book lover, I really liked the features aNobii has to offer. I used to compile a timeline to monitor what I’ve read – which is work because I have to input book titles, authors, date started and finished data into a XML files as well as upload images manually. With aNobii, all this is made simple. I’m giving aNobii a very positive thumbs – and highly recommending it for people who love to read.

My public profile at aNobii.