Using a one-two combo, you can get your quick rips of mp3s (in good quality).

Step 1)  www.goear.com

The site http://www.goear.com/ will search out nearly any song (I tried with the obscure, but awesome, Canadian band The Rural Alberta Advantage here: http://www.goear.com/search.php?q=the+rural+alberta+advantage).  This search will find a song and then offer you a web-player and play the song.  The next step is to copy the link from the listening page, and paste it into step 2.

Step 2) dowint.net

Paste the audio listen link into http://dowint.net/ (take a second to copy the song name, so you can replace the random text that the filename has by default) and save that bad larry to your computer using the right-click -> save link feature of your browser.

Note that dowint.net can also rip media from youtube.com, dailymotion.com and metacafe.com, but goear.com seems to have the best quality audio, so far.  Side-note: if you listen to the song first, before placing the link in downint.net, it grabs it from your local cache, so you can grab the mp3 almostinstantly.

Happy Ripping

Here are two decent web services that you can use to rip the audio out of any Youtube video, and save it as an .mp3

Vixy.net

I found the first one, Vixy [ http://vixy.net/ ], over a year ago.  Generally it helped me when I wanted to grab a rare, b-side or unpublished song.  It seems these days it’s easier to find live than recorded work on Youtube, but this tool works like a charm.  They offer a Mac and Windows client to do the same from your own computer, but I always found the expiration dates annoying, and tend to prefer the web interface these days.  On the plus side, you can also rip the video if you want, in various formats.  Our second link is audio only.

Listentoyoutube.com

My girlfriend turned me on to this site: http://www.listentoyoutube.com/ which rips the audio at blazing speeds, and downloads nearly instantly.  I’d be curious to find out what they are doing so differently from Vixy to speed up the service.  If you just want a quick .mp3 of a song (or any video for that matter) you saw on Youtube, input the url at this site, and it will be done nearly instantly.

(By the way, I’m trying my 3rd post using WordPress post-by-email, it seems they don’t let my free account auto-include images by attaching them to the emails)

Please, check out this section of mp3 downloads of all your favorite classic tv shows from Slacker Up! at this page: http://www.slackerup.com/TVThemes/index.html.

Here’s a short list of their offerings:

• The X-Files
• Knight Rider
• Night Court
• The Kids in the Hall
• Married with Children
• Animaniacs
• The A-Team!

If you’re phone can take mp3’s for ring tones, you are set to impress your retro-minded friends.

I had to give this wizened woman her due with a link to this video of her singing and playing guitar on stage. As her voice croons out the raspy lyrics of the old tune “Freight Train” her yet nimble fingers pluck out the tinny melody on an acoustic guitar which sits on her lap like a slightly too old but loved grandchild.

Amazing to see, a gift to the sentimental and jazz lovers alike.

And if that isn’t doing it for you, enjoy the razor wit of a commenter who asked the apt if not sarcastic question: ” Was this by any chance the first blues song ever written?”.

This Facebook application allows you to create a video with a custom message. Bob Dylan displays your message on signs he flips away like a lazy David Letterman. You can post your custom message to any profile and the recipient can send a message back in their own custom video.

Similar to the stunt available at icetruck.tv where you get to create a custom video to send to your friends which appears to imply they are the next victim of a serial killer on the loose.

Review from a Facebook Application review site:

http://facereviews.com/2007/09/21/bob-dylan-on-facebook/

Cool explanation of a drum beat which has been bouncing around jazz, hip-hop, rap and pop culture for years upon years now.

At just under 20 minutes, this one is best for a background listen while you work. The video part is just a spinning record anyhow (mostly).

Also, the video might begs that you have a lot of interest, since the narrator has a bit of a droning voice. I saw a comment posted on the Youtube video which asked, “is it true the narrator suffered from a horrible accident that left him able to speak only in monotone?”

All things equal, it is worth the listen if you are interested in music history.