Chrome OS might seem a limited browser based OS, but it is capable of far much more. It can now handle USB drives and that also stretches to Android mobile phones. This brief article shows how to download YouTube videos as MP3 files and then copy them to your Android phone - all done on a Chromebook.
First off, visit YouTube and find the video you want to convert to a music/audio file and copy the address from the address bar.
There are numerous websites for downloading and converting YouTube videos, for this article I used convert2mp3.net/en as it was simple to use and included ID3 Tags editing.
Paste the YouTube video link in to the box on convert2mp3.net/en and click the convert button. Now wait for it to process which should only take a few seconds. It will then ask if the ID3 Tags are ok, if so click continue.
Now you are ready to click download. On todays modern broadband, this should only take a few seconds. This will place the file in your local storage on your Chromebook.
Close your browser and load the app launcher. Click all apps and find files.
Now you are ready to connect your phone. Plug in your Android handset and on the screen it should pop up with USB options - and you need to select transfer files.
This will mount both your phone and your SD card. Close one of them. I wanted the music file on my SD card, so I closed the window for my phones internal storage.
Now simply drag the MP3 from your local drive to your Android phone window. This is a simple process to get YouTube videos, as MP3, onto your Android phone using just a Chromebook.
The copying options also allow you to manage any phone or USB device - you can copy to and from these devices and your Chromebook - just as you would on Windows, macOS or Linux.
Written by Simon Royal. Follow me at twitter.com/simonroyal
