Mac 101: Easy Downloads
I mentioned simple Safari downloads in my recent iPhone ringtones post. Several readers contacted me asking if I could give a step-by-step description how to do this trick.
The problem with downloading audio and video through Safari is that if you paste the link directly into the Address bar, the resources load into the Safari window. They don't download directly to disk.
The easiest way to handle this is by right-clicking (control-clicking) a music or video link and selecting Download Linked File from the pop-up menu. However if you get your URL outside Safari and don't have a link to right-click, that method won't work. In the ringtones example, the URL was copied from a text file.
To download a URL directly then, go into Safari and select Window -> Downloads. The Downloads windows open. Select it and paste your URL (Edit -> Paste or just type Command-V). The download begins immediately without having to open the file in an intermediate window and then save to disk.
This trick has been tested with Safari 3, and several people have told me that it works for them in Safari 2. Let me know in the comments how it works for you. I tried it out in Firefox and can confirm it does not work there.
