Not sure why you're being downvoted. I prefer to directly download long Youtube videos so I don't have to deal with the site's garbage flash and HTML5 video players, but I only do that after I've actually watched a minute or two to see if it's interesting. Some kind of a browser-based streaming option is practically required to have a Youtube-esque in-band discovery experience (a roundabout way of saying "click around and waste 30 more minutes than you meant to").