How to put YouTube videos on Sansa Fuze that works

Instructions are for Windows XP

I recently purchased a Sandisk Sansa Fuze for listening to music, storing/transporting favorite photos and videos. I wasn't thrilled with the Sansa Fuze at first. It took me a day of playing with it to get the hang of it but now I like it.

What you need to play videos on the Sansa

One thing I was really excited about was putting my videos on it. I use my digital camera for short videos then transfer them to my computer for keeping. I thought it would be simple to run the video through the supplied Sansa Media Converter then transfer it to the Fuze.

Well, it wasn't that simple.

Is anything ever really 'that' simple? No.

I never did get the Sansa Media Converter to work, so after a lot of time consuming searching, I found a solution that does work. It also works perfectly for converting YouTube videos to play on your Fuze.

I purchased this video converter

I tried several different programs both free and trial versions but I didn't find one that worked until I came across the Sansa Video Converter from 4videosoft. I purchased it for $21.95 but it's well worth it because it not only does it work perfectly, I can improve the video and sound quality with this program also. It's not only for converting YouTube videos for the Fuze. As I already mentioned, when I video with my digital camera, my videos have to be converted before I can watch them on my player.

The Sansa Video Converter also converts video for iPod, iPhone, PSP, Zune, Xbox, Sony Walkman, and others.

Install this free Firefox addon for downloading YouTube videos

For putting YouTube videos on your Sansa I use Firefox with the free addon 'Download YouTube Videos as MP4 and FLV files'.

Note: The following YouTube video belongs to me. It's wise to read the YouTube Terms of Service (TOS) before you download and transfer videos that don't belong to you or that you don't have permission to download and transfer.

So what does this little addon do?

It adds a download button under youtube videos like this....

The free addon also works with these browsers:

• Google Chrome
• Internet Explorer
• Safari
• Opera

Of the five browsers, Opera and Firefox seemed to be the easiest to install the addon.  Click this link to read more about how to install this addon on other browsers. Installing the addon with Firefox is very simple. In Firefox, go to Tools>addons.

 Then search for the addon, install it.....

Restart Firefox and you're ready to download those videos!

How to put YouTube Videos on Sansa Fuze

Step 1- Download Video

Okay, so you have the Sansa Media Converter and Firefox addon. Now you are ready to get those videos on your Sansa Fuze! First, find the video you want on YouTube. Using the same browser with the newly installed addon, click on the download button under the video as shown in this image....

If you have a slow connection like me, stop the video from playing while you are downloading. Download and save the video to an easy to find location such as the desktop.

Step 2- Open the Converter

Now open the Sansa Video Converter. Click on the 'add file' button on the top left corner of the converter.

  Browse to where you saved the youtube video, click on it. It should be loaded in the converter, like mine.

 On the bottom of converter click on 'settings' in the 'profile' section. You can see the settings I used below.

From the default, I changed the video and audio bitrate to the maximum. In the profile 'row' I use 'Sansa' and 'Sansa Video MPEG-4 (*.mp4). You can also change the destination of the converted video. By default it will be under 'My Documents\4Videosoft Studio\Output'. Click on 'browse' to change. When you are ready to convert, click on 'Start'.

Step 3- Transferring to Sansa Fuze

• Before connecting the fuze, locate the converted video file, right click on it and select copy.
• Connect the Fuze to your computer's USB port.
• A window of options for accessing the player should pop up. 

• Click on 'open device to view files using windows explorer", then 'Internal Storage'..
• A window with Fuze folders should pop up. 

• Click on the 'video folder.

You can transfer the videos one of two ways:

1) Right click and copy the converted file, then right click in an empty space of the Fuze video folder, select paste.

2) Drag and drop the converted video file from the desktop to the video folder. If you can't see the desktop with the folder window open, re-size your window.

That's it! Enjoy your videos!

Read my Irfanview tutorial, a free image viewer here