The popular YouTube-ripping site YouTube-MP3 agreed to close doors following a piracy lawsuit. So, expect the service which allowed users to convert YouTube videos to audio format for later playback to vanish overnight.
YouTube-MP3 was sued for allowing stream-ripping of protected content, which is one of the most frequent forms of music piracy. As of now, the site is still up, but users have reported various errors when they tried to convert a YouTube video to mp3.
Some users were told that the service is blocked in their area, while others received the message “There is some Maintenance going on. Please try again within the next hour.”
The website claims that users can convert online videos to mp3 without an account. As soon as a video URL is submitted, the service will extract the audiotrack out of the YouTube videofile and make it available for download.
YouTube-MP3 noted that other conversion services need the installation of software to convert the videos, which is not the case with their site where audio files are downloaded directly from their servers.
Because of this particular infrastructure, the service can be accessed from various platforms including Macs, Linux devices, Windows PCs, and even iPhones. The service promises high-quality conversions of at least 128 kBit/s for a “completely free” service. What’s more, a conversion takes only 3 to 4 minutes per video.
So, what YouTube-MP3 offers is every music pirate’s wet dream, which drew the ire of the RIAA and content providers. TorrentFreak reported that the service agreed to a settlement with the RIAA and would be shutting doors this week.
A court found that the website violated DMCA YouTube rules through the “illicit delivery of free music” after the media victims have complained that the stream-ripping service generated advertising revenue thanks to the millions of people accessing the service.
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