We are always looking for ways to make it easier for you to find,
watch, and share videos. Many of you have told us that you wanted to
take your favorite videos offline. So we've started working with a few
partners who want their videos shared universally and even enjoyed
away from an Internet connection.

Many video creators on YouTube want their work to be seen far and
wide. They don't mind sharing their work, provided that they get the
proper credit. Using Creative Commons licenses (http://
creativecommons.org/about/licenses/), we're giving our partners and
community more choices to make that happen. Creative Commons licenses
permit people to reuse downloaded content under certain conditions.

We're also testing an option that gives video owners the ability to
permit downloading of their videos from YouTube. Partners could choose
to offer their video downloads for free or for a small fee paid
through Google Checkout (http://checkout.google.com/). Partners can
set prices and decide which license they want to attach to the
downloaded video files.

For more info on the types of licenses, take a look here:
http://help.youtube.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=140495

For example, universities use YouTube to share lectures and research
with an ever-expanding audience. In an effort to promote the sharing
of information, we are testing free downloads of YouTube videos from
Stanford (http://www.youtube.com/user/stanforduniversity), Duke
(http://www.youtube.com/user/dukeuniversitynews), UC Berkeley (http://
www.youtube.com/user/ucberkeley), UCLA (http://youtube.com/user/
uclacourses), and UCTV (broadcasting programs from throughout the UC
system: http://www.youtube.com/user/uctelevision). YouTube users who
are traveling or teachers who want to show these videos in classrooms
with limited or no connectivity should find this particularly useful.

A small number of other YouTube partners, including:

khanacademy (http://www.youtube.com/khanacademy)
householdhacker (http://www.youtube.com/householdhacker)
pogobat (http://www.youtube.com/pogobat),

...are also participating in this test as an additional distribution
and revenue-generating tool.

So how do these downloads work? The video watch pages of the
participating partners link to the download option below the left-hand
corner of the video. To help you keep track of the videos you have
previously purchased, we have created a new "My Purchases" tab (http://
www.youtube.com/my_purchases) under "My Videos."

If you are a partner who is interested in participating, you can find
out more about the test and enter your information here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=p3zcNz3Ul4p0xmFwDkvpVJw&h....

Please do share your feedback with us by joining the discussion here.