MySpace is an excellent platform for sharing songs from unsigned and independent bands and user-created videos. But occasionally, you’ll want to listen to a song or watch your favorite MySpace video without being connected to the Internet. Unless the artist has enabled downloadable MP3s, this can be somewhat of a challenge. Luckily, there are a few solutions available.

First of all, go ahead and download Mozilla Firefox. For any advanced MySpace tasks, its best to have a solid third-party browser rather than Safari or Internet Explorer. Then, try one of these options:

KeepVid let’s you copy and paste the video URL and turns it into a downloadable link which you can right-click and “save as…”

VideoDownloader is a FireFox add-on that adds a convenient toolbar that lets you extract embedded videos and other media from a MySpace layout.

VideoDownloadX works a lot like KeepVid but features a handy converter for changing videos from Flash video to another more offline-friendly format.

Once you get a Flash video (.flv) file on your computer, you have two options:

• Convert it to .avi, .mpg, .wmv or another format. Use tools like: VixyNet, Batch FLV Converter, or ConvertYouTube.
• Get an .flv movie player, such as: Wimpy Desktop FLV Player or JW FLV Media Player.

Methods for downloading songs, like other MySpace Hacks, are usually hit-or-miss and short-lived. One popular script which has been taken down (though still available on torrents) is MySpace MP3 Gopher.

Alternately, you can take a do-it-yourself approach, somewhat akin to holding up a tape recorder to the radio. Here’s how:

1. Download an audio recording program, such as Audacity.
2. Setup and Install Audacity (or whichever program you chose).
3. For Audacity, click the pulldown menu next to the microphone and select “Stereo Mix.”
4. Close all other programs that might make any noise (i.e. instant messengers, other media players).
5. Navigate to the MySpace profile with the song you want to record.
6. Click RECORD on Audacity and begin playback of the song you want.
7. Once the song has played through, hit RECORD again.
8. Click FILE | Export as MP3… and save the file.

That’s all there is to it. However, you should note that MySpace has disabled downloading of these files for a reason. Licensing law prohibits MySpace from allowing certain media to be saved to your hard drive, so if you are nervous about possible account cancellations or lawsuits, its best to listen and view MySpace media as Tom intended!

For my tips, gadgets and MySpace layouts, check out Myspacemaster.net.