Top 5 best internet download managers
Streaming (rather than downloading) content has become more popular in recent years, but many people aren't prepared to ditch their larger capacity smartphones, computers and storage devices just yet.Started in the mid 90s, people's love affair with downloading files - from movies and MP3s to torrents and applications - is as strong as it ever was, and with increasingly fast broadband and mobile connectivity, more data is being downloaded to hard drives than at any point in history.
Internet download managers have existed for almost as long as the Internet has been around, and have similarly evolved over time. Their primary goal is still to help you with downloading large or multiple files, but many now come with extra functionality that supercharges the process - from splitting files into separate partitions to help land them onto your hard drive quicker to converting them to other file formats to be played on other devices.
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A common misconception is that downloading is all about illegal activity. It isn't - there are many legitimate reasons to fire up an internet download manager - such as wanting to grab a file that you've uploaded yourself after you've lost the original copy. Or you might be downloading creative works, or open source material that has been made available by the author.Here are five of the best internet download managers. If you have any suggestions for this list, let us know in the comments below.
1. Download Accelerator Plus - Top 5 best internet download managers
Download Accelerator Plus is a tool that helps you speed up your internet downloads by searching servers on the internet to find the file, or files that you're download. By locating and requesting it from multiple sources at the same time, it can find the quickest route from its location to your computer's hard drive, landing it much quicker than if it was downloaded from a single server.
Top 5 best internet download managers
2. JDownloader 2 BETA - Top 5 best internet download managers
JDownloader2 is the sequel to the popular file downloader JDownloader. Like others on our list, the program can download files from regular websites, but JDownloader2 stands out for its ability to easily download files from one-click hosts - such as Rapidshare, MediaFire, Uploaded and NetLoad.Some download managers don't allow this due to incompatibility with the file formats that one-click hosts use, but JDownloader2 runs into no such problems as it supports the Rapidshare Downloader Format (RSDF), Cryptload Container Format (CCF) and Download Link Container (DLC) formats.
3. Free Download Manager - Top 5 best internet download managers
Torrents have something of a reputation when it comes to illegal content, with owners of website such as The Pirate Bay appearing in headlines for being commanded to the dock for allowing its users to share copyrighted content. But there are numerous legitimate reasons to use torrents too, and if you're looking to get involved, Free Download Manger combines the best bits of regular download managers with torrent downloading programs.
4. YouTube Downloader - Top 5 best internet download managers
YouTube Downloader is a hassle-free way of ripping YouTube videos to your hard disk drive, with the option to convert files into multiple different formats. It may have YouTube in its name, but it also works with a multitude of other video websites - from DailyMotion to Facebook.
5. Freemake Video Downloader - Top 5 best internet download managers
Freemake Video Downloader can download videos from a range of websites before converting them into different file formats. If you're running Firefox, you can even grab a plug-in that allows you to download any video from YouTube with a single click, which is useful for archiving your own video collection to hard disk or quickly grabbing copyright-free content from other users' accounts.
