Ashampoo ClipFinder HD 2.52

Among the wide variety of tools that allow you to download online videos, some will ask you to paste the link(s) to the file(s) you want to grab, others will let you look for videos on specific sites only, and some others will merely download the video files as they are. Ashampoo ClipFinder HD offers you the best of all worlds – search for videos in all the most popular sites at once, download videos by clicking on their thumbnail and convert them to the format of your choice on the fly.

Unless you decide differently, the program will query up to 12 different popular video sites for the music you’re looking for. Instead of the lame web links that other similar tools provide, ClipFinder HD will display all the videos found in thumbnail form. Just click on the image and you’ll be allowed to play back the video file (just as if you were on the site that hosts it), download it in any of the formats and levels of quality available on the portal, or convert it to the format of your preference among those supported.

The program is capable of handling as many downloads as your bandwidth can deal with, and its built-in media player will let you click on the “My videos” tab, choose one of your downloaded files, and watch it without leaving the program or launching third-party apps. Nearly all types of online video formats and qualities are supported, up to High-Definition video files (as stated in the program’s name).

Ashampoo ClipFinder HD not only brings together under one single interface the most interesting functionality regarding online video download and playback but also wraps it up in an attractive and highly intuitive GUI that makes things a bit simpler and much nicer. The tool is completely free (though apparently, it wasn’t always so), though you’ll have to pay the price of going through a rather clumsy registration process to get your free key. Once you’ve sorted that minor inconvenience out, however, you’ll be able to enjoy one of the few online video downloaders designed thinking of the user, not the developer.