YouTube has officially ended support of its video download program that was currently in beta. This will prevent YouTube Partners from enabling their new videos in a downloadable format.

[Skip to 1:56 for the news.]

This may not be the final nail in the coffin for download YouTube videos legally, but it's definitely a step backwards.

Rumors have been flying around that YouTube is preparing to launch a program that would charge for streaming content. http://newteevee.com/2009/12/01/will-youtube-begin-chargi...

Which would you prefer to pay for: downloadable or streaming videos?

Here's an excerpt from the email:
"We want to thank you for supporting and participating in this beta test and for helping us make YouTube better, but we have decided not to fully productize this, for now. This means that we will continue to support downloads of videos that you previously submitted, but that you will not be able to enable any new videos for download. We apologize if this will cause any inconvenience. Meanwhile, we are reevaluating on an ongoing basis whether/when to launch Downloads capability on YouTube as a fully supported commercial feature for all users and partners." (less info)