“Give me a Python script using yt-dlp that I can run on a cronjob that will download the videos from any of my subscribed channels since the last time the script was run”

You can use the following Python script to download videos from your subscribed channels since the last run. This script uses yt-dlp and stores the last download timestamp to track new videos.

First, ensure you have yt-dlp installed:

pip install yt-dlp

Then, create a script called download_videos.py:

import os
import json
import subprocess
from datetime import datetime

# Configuration
last_run_file = 'last_run.json'
download_directory = 'downloads'

# Ensure the download directory exists
os.makedirs(download_directory, exist_ok=True)

# Load the last run time
if os.path.exists(last_run_file):
    with open(last_run_file, 'r') as f:
        last_run = json.load(f)['last_run']
else:
    last_run = datetime.now().isoformat()

# Update the last run time to now
current_run = datetime.now().isoformat()

# Command to get videos from subscribed channels since the last run
command = [
    'yt-dlp',
    '--download-archive', 'archive.txt',
    '--output', f'{download_directory}/%(title)s.%(ext)s',
    '--date-after', last_run,
    '--no-post-overwrites',
    '--merge-output-format', 'mp4',
    'https://www.youtube.com/channel/CHANNEL_ID',  # Replace with your channel URL
]

# Run the command
subprocess.run(command)

# Save the current run time
with open(last_run_file, 'w') as f:
    json.dump({'last_run': current_run}, f)

print("Download complete. Next run will check for videos since:", current_run)

Setting Up the Cron Job

1. Make the script executable:

   chmod +x download_videos.py
   

2. Open your crontab:

   crontab -e
   

3. Add a line to run the script at your desired interval (e.g., daily at 2 AM):

   0 2 * * * /path/to/python /path/to/download_videos.py
   

Notes

• Replace CHANNEL_ID in the script with your actual channel IDs or use a playlist URL if preferred.
• The archive.txt file keeps track of already downloaded videos to avoid duplicates.
• Adjust the paths to Python and your script as needed.

Well you know what they say “Great minds think quicker than mine and probably have already had that thought.”

I’m more and more inclined towards the idea of piracy myself as time goes on and media continues to shave itself down into more and more ridiculous, unrelated shards, that you have to subscribe to just to be able to SEE if they have what you want.

I don’t actively do it actively since I dont really know where to begin, and things I have found have been to sketch for me, or requiring memberships or even payments to join.

I agree. Tech communities have a habit of drastically over estimating how much everyone else cares about the details of tech.

Even something as simple as PC gaming scares off a lot of people because of the perception that you need to be some kind of tech wizard in order to cobble everything together to make a game run. Actual cobbling together of software to pirate (no matter how simple it seems to people in the know) is just a bunch of technobabble.

I think it needs regulation, the whole streaming industry needs to be regulated! It can’t be that the competition is made using exclusive content and you have to live with privacy infringement tech to consume cultural art legally.

In my opinion, in a capitalist system, the market competition should be about delivering the content the best way, not about what content they deliver.

Right now, they can made the delivery as shitty as they want, because what takes them apart from competition is the exclusive content, not the tech.

Ahh, that makes sense. you’re not the target demographic of YT. you’re too educated and too driven and you learn through more advanced methods.

that’s OK, great for you and I’m happy that you’re so successful. now, what about the millions of users that don’t have the means to access higher education and training provided by their employers? what about the 18yo kid living in a leaky trailer with their methed out mom or dad that’s looking for literally any way out they can afford.

perhaps in your quest you surrounded yourself with ultra successful people and forgot that there is a whole world with billions of people that do not have the same means as you do.

not trying to diminish the hard work and efforts you have clearly applied, but just because you did doesn’t mean everyone can.

by removing easy access to content provided by these communities, even if they are wholly or partially incorrect, it only deepens the chasm between long term professional success and endentured struggle.

I will not support any action that denies a life the opportunity to rise above their status and claim a better life for themselves and their family. for every one person who stands above their born status increases the potential successes of those around them, and even cooler, it’s a feedback system. your successes become their successes, and their successes become our successes.

Just to make it clear, I’m not trying to diminish your success I’m just trying to establish my perspective on your perspective so that we can share in a perspective that includes our success.

“I didn’t need help when I went to college. these lazy kids just need to get a paper route for the summer to pay for a semester or two. it couldn’t cost more than a couple hundred bucks for books and classes”

what you did over your 25 year long career is irrelevant to what current people are going through. the rest of this is a rant on “boomer” mentality. I’m an xer myself, just sick of people perpetuating the broken ideals of the most spoiled generation.

!

I’ve been in IT just as long but in the last 10 years I have been asked to learn the following under threat of becoming “irrelevant”; cloud computing, big data analysis, cryptographic signing and tracking of data, machine learning, and the most recent artificial intelligence.

how the fuck are we supposed to keep up with this and maintain our family/home and maintain friendships and maintain our sanity all while juggling the roles and responsibilities weighing us down at work.

in 2021 I worked over 3200 hours in the year. that’s double 8s almost every single day. part of that time was training time I was forced to comply with to make sure “the company remains competitive.” it also doesn’t include the 16 hours of training over the weekends that I couldn’t claim because, “if you can’t perform the responsibilities given to you within office hours provided then perhaps you should work from the office under supervision.” I think we all know what that meant. want to know what I did with all that training? I’ll let you know as soon as I use it.

point is, the world got fucked up, and greedy pieces of shit at the top make the smaller greedy pieces of shit greed harder, and so forth. when will it be enough? when can we stop working on frivolous bullshit that’s going to be dropped and abandoned when “the next big thing” shows up? when can we start building shit that matters so much that we can’t just abandon it?

so, what’s this got to do with YT? if I could have watched 200 hours of training videos for free online instead of taking multiple courses, homework, tests, etc; I could spent more time with my kids, or hobbies, or doing whatever the fuck I want. instead, I was stuck doing busywork for some other assholes bonus.

!<

They grew up before t9.

Isn’t it true tho? YouTube’s a privacy nightmare- they know everything about ur content preferences, ur political learnings, everything. Without a VPN + no account, say goodbye to any semblance of privacy.

Exactly. I hate being punished for using what was advertised to me.

“Massive increase” I think needs a source.

And they rely on the network effect to be the de facto standard video hoster. Every little bit of that network that they carve off while they’re enshittifying brings them closer to the critical point where people can afford to ditch them.

The logic that they can “afford” to lose marketshare is exactly what will make them keep losing it until people migrate en masse and they lose all of their marketshare.

I wasn’t curious about your friend until this comment lmao. Cheers friend.