Session Downloader

Over the years I’ve attended many Microsoft events. MMS and TechEd are my absolute favorites (note, I haven’t been to Build, yet). Every year hundreds of speakers present over (?) thousand sessions with really great content. So, I’ve made an app to download these sessions so you and I can watch them later on. There are just so much good content that you can not see it all in one week!

I would like to make it easier to follow the development of ‘Session Downloader’ and always keep up with the latest bits. So instead of constantly releasing new bits in blog posts over and over, I’m utilizing the ClickOnce feature in Visual Studio so that the application will check online each time you start it, if there is a new version available. Also, I’m releasing the bits here, on a dedicated page on my blog.

Hope that’s makes it even easier for you all!

Download ClickOnce version and always stay up2date

Download latest (well almost always latest) build a la old fashion way (Currently v.0.6)

Please do note that this is not in any way an official Microsoft nor Channel 9 application, it is built by me Tim Nilimaa. Just to keep it clear :)

Latest news: ClickOnce has been upgraded to version v0.6.5 with support for some new events!

Big thanks to everyone who have contributed with code assistance as well as bugs reporting. It really means a lot. To name a few: Thorbjörn Sjövold at Specops Software, Michal Sampson and Duncan Mackenzie from Channel 9/Microsoft as well as all of you posting comments below. You are awesome!

81 Comments

  1. Jeff Stevens says:

    Lookin’ good, Tim! I did Select All, Download, and things are progressing well.

  2. Jeff Stevens says:

    Tim, I got everything available from the videos and powerpoints, but I’d like to get the audio for podcasting purposes. Would it be difficult to add that functionality? I would find it valuable. If it’s a lot of work, I understand if you’d rather focus on other things. Thanks again!

    • Tim says:

      Jeff, it has been added in release 0.5.1 that you can find above. Note, only the ‘ClickOnce’ version has been updated with this minor functionality.

  3. Jeff Stevens says:

    Tim, your services is most appreciated. Thanks so much!

  4. Auteri says:

    Just checked version 0.5.2. It looks like Save File Naming > SessionCode – Sessionname.fileending is not functioning.

    The feature I hope for is: TrackCodeSessionCode – SessionName.fileending
    So all sessions of the same Track in the same subdir.

    Another feature would be downloading pptx if available.

    Wonder how fast this feature request will be fullfilled. :-)

  5. Jeff Stevens says:

    I agree with Auteri; that would be nice. But I’m not paying for this, so I’m not going to complain. We really do appreciate this, Tim.

  6. Auteri says:

    With the pptx download, i meant something like a checkbox to accompany the video download.
    And I also like to make clear that I really appreciate the tool, since I’m not able to attend any of the TechEd shows this year and this way I have my own private TechEd while commuting (by train).

    • Tim says:

      Interesting thought. I’ll look into the possibility to add this feature. Might have some performance impact (while active).

  7. Nick Greeley says:

    Anybody else having problems with session videos hanging after a while? PowerPoints downloaded no problem. I wonder if it’s the format I chose?

  8. Jeff Stevens says:

    Nick – No. I downloaded MP4 High. Most compatible and space is cheap.

  9. Chris Waters says:

    Awesome tool; thanks!

    How complete is the list of TechEd sessions? For instance, I don’t see the annual “BI Power Hour” session (fortunately, it’s available for download at http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/DBI-B210).

  10. amckeachie says:

    Tim, this is great! Much thanks. Here is a feature request if you are still working away on this thing: Can the app be configured to skip over files that are already present in the download destination folder. I want to download all the sessions, but I haven’t been able to leave my laptop running long enough to grab them all in one session. I’d like the ability to start from where I left off last time. If the app just skipped downloading files that had already been downloaded this feature would also server to allow me to grab additional session videos as they are made available. Thanks again! – Alex

  11. Chris Nielsen says:

    Very useful app. But the Download Progress tab has some serious problems.

    Whatever control you’re using (Panel/ListView) you apparently have it set to dynamic width, so it is only as wide as it needs to be to show the progress bar of every download currently visible. As you scroll, it constantly resizes itself.

    Using the mouse wheel, the arrows on the scrollbar, or clicking in the empty area of the scrollbar you can get it to scroll, but the constant resizing makes it appear to be glitching horribly.

    Forget trying to grab the actual slider on the scrollbar with your mouse to move it up or down. And if you click one of the items to highlight it and press the arrow keys to move the selection, it resets you to the top item in the list. With the top item in the list selected, pressing the down arrow does nothing.

    • Tim says:

      I’m using the Refresh-method on my ListBox, that’s what’s causing the behavior. I’ve spent some time trying to replace it with a Delegate/Dispatch instead but haven’t found a way that works yet. I’ll add it to the list over known bugs. Thanks for the report Chris!

    • Tim says:

      What version are you using?

      EDIT: Did read it once again and now I think I’ve seen the problem. Fix released in v0.5.3 (use ClickOnce).

  12. Christopher Rivers says:

    The number of sessions for MMS 2013 in the search appears to be double what actually downloads.

    When I search for all MP4 HD sessions for MMS 2013, the search returns 368 results. I select all and download yet only 184 items are downloaded. Same for the PPTX sessions; 332 results and only 166 items are downloaded.

    The results and items downloaded match for all of the TechEd 2013 sessions.

    Might you consider adding the option to go back a few years? :)

    Great app! Look forward to using this again next year!

    • Tim says:

      What version are you using? Haven’t seen this myself. And on what OS are you running? The possibility to back a few years isn’t something that I will prioritize highly I’m afraid. But I’ve added it to the request list :)

  13. Ryan Mitchell says:

    Excellent work! Thanks!

    Is there a (minor) issue with the “SessionCode – SessionName” filenaming option? For TechEd NA 2013 sessions I’m getting filenames without the last digit of the SessionCode:

    OUC-B20 – A Look Inside Microsoft Office 365.mp4
    OUC-B20 – A Look Inside Microsoft Office 365.pptx
    OUC-B20 – Become a Microsoft Office Ninja in 60 Minutes.mp4
    OUC-B20 – Choosing the Right Cloud Service.mp4
    OUC-B20 – Choosing the Right Cloud Service.pptx

  14. Tim says:

    @Ryan Mitchell
    Fixed in next release!

  15. Rick B says:

    Can you update your app to download other TechEds, like TechEd Europe? Thanks

    • Tim says:

      Support for TechEd EMEA/Europe has been in the product since v0.6. In that version I also added support for Build 2013.

  16. Bob says:

    I have version 0.6 of Session Downloader. Whenever I click on the Refresh Session button the app crashes. OS is Win7 Sp1 Patched.

    Has this been experienced at all? Anyone know how to get around this?

  17. Bob says:

    The Download ClickOnce version link is broken, get a 404 error.

    This is an error I receive when clicking on “Refresh Sessions”.
    Problem Event Name: CLR20r3
    Problem Signature 01: sessiondownloader.exe
    Problem Signature 02: 0.6.0.0
    Problem Signature 03: 51c802ec
    Problem Signature 04: mscorlib
    Problem Signature 05: 4.0.30319.17929
    Problem Signature 06: 4ffa57ca
    Problem Signature 07: 1a4f
    Problem Signature 08: 16
    Problem Signature 09: System.IO.FileNotFoundException

  18. Bob says:

    No proxy servers.

  19. Meik says:

    I have the same 404 Problem Today at round about 14:00 was it possible to download but later then the 404 Error no Proxy

  20. Tim Nilimaa says:

    @Meik & @Bob
    Looks like that the non-ClickOnce link was broken. I’ve fixed that one. I’ve also updated the page to make it more clear which link goes to what. Further more I’ve updated the ClickOnce version to v0.6.1 that should be a bit faster than the old v0.6

  21. Tim Nilimaa says:

    @Bob
    Try to (re-) specify download location in the settings page first.

  22. Bob says:

    Ok. Will try some more.

    Thank you.

  23. Bob says:

    The ClickOnce link above is still going to a 404 error.
    http://infoworks.tv/SessionDownloaderClickOnce gives the 404 error.

  24. Bob says:

    Version 0.4 seems to be ok.

  25. Meik says:

    @Tim Nilimaa
    Download now working creat Tool Thanks

  26. Toni Petrina says:

    Great tool, but is the source code available? I’d like to fix certain stuff :)

    • Tim Nilimaa says:

      Source code is not available at this moment but I could invite you to the TFS project. Working on making it public using GIT.

  27. Toni Petrina says:

    @Tim Nilimaa
    That would be great :) Are you on Codeplex? And I prefer git btw. My github id is tpetrina.

  28. David Pultorak says:

    How can I point this at WPC 2013 content?

  29. Tim Nilimaa says:

    @David Pultorak
    Since the WPC sessions are on “WPC Connect” I can not dig into that and make it work for you since I don’t have a login for that site. Sorry.

  30. aj says:

    Nice Tool.
    Maybe you could add proxy support?

  31. Amy says:

    Hi Tim ,

    Nothing is reflecting in the console when i open it..:( i tried different setting but nothing is working..

    I am using Windows 8 OS

  32. CN. says:

    Hi Tim,

    Please I need your help.

    The application is crashing after I click “refresh sessions”
    I tried to select different events, choose MP4 HD and then click “refresh sessions”.
    (Error: Session Downloaded has stopped working).
    I am using Windows 8, before I upgraded to the latest version everything was working fine.

    I removed and installed the app again, but the same problem.

    Your help is highly appreciated.

    Thank you.

  33. Klaus says:

    @CN.
    Hi Tim,

    I have the same error as CN. is reporting. The application chrashes after clicking the “refresh session” button. Is there an updated version which doesn’t crash available?

    Thanks and kind regards,

    Klaus

    • Tim Nilimaa says:

      Hi Klaus and CN,
      Have you tried the non-ClickOnce version? I’ve successfylly replicated the problem and an update will be released as soon as possible, typical a day or two.

      /Tim

  34. Arne says:

    Hi Tim
    I have the same problem as Klaus and CN on both versions.

    :-) Arne

  35. CN, says:

    Thank you dear Klaus for the reply,

    I tried the non-ClickOnce version and I had the same issue. (Error: Session Downloaded has stopped working).

    Please help.

    Thank you.

  36. Tim Nilimaa says:

    @CN,
    New version posted (0.6.4) with a fix for this!

  37. CN, says:

    Thank you dear Tim, it’s working now.

    Keep up the good work and include all future Microsoft events!

  38. Hugo says:

    Thanks for this great tool!

    If you’re looking for bugs to fix, here’s an interesting one: if the session name has a reserved character (like “:”) and you use the option to create a folder for every session, it won’t create the folder.

    You rock!

  39. Tim says:

    @Hugo
    Sure am looking for bugs to bust. I’ll look into this, thanks Hugo :)

  40. Paul says:

    Thanks for this great tool!

    I can not fin the download any more. Clicking the links I end up at the Home site!?

  41. Tim says:

    @Paul
    Thank you for pointing that out. It has been sorted out now.

  42. Microsoft Session Downloader 0.65 | I'm Lovin' IT says:

    […] http://infoworks.tv/session-downloader/ […]

  43. Rick B says:

    I love this application but it doesn’t work on Windows 8.1. Can you please update it so that works with W8.1? That would be great.

    • Tim Nilimaa says:

      @Rick B,
      Looks like the guys at Channel9 have updated their odata-model and I need to do so as well in order to be able to use their “feed”. I’ll see what I can do. Thanks for letting me know! :)

    • Tim Nilimaa says:

      It should work perfectly on Windows 8.1 as well.

  44. Gordon Beeming says:

    Hi

    Another way to download the videos is to use a PowerShell script that I made =). Slightly different approach but works like a champion =D

    http://31og.com/post/easily-download-ch9-videos

    • Tim Nilimaa says:

      @Gordon Beeming
      There are always many ways to do stuff. I went with the PoSh way first but felt that the community was asking for something more so I built this solution. At the end of the day, we just want these cool vids offline to watch during a flight or something like that. Doesn’t really matter how we get ‘em :) Thanks for your contribution!

  45. Microsoft Session Downloader 0.68 | Just a Lync Guy says:

    […] http://infoworks.tv/session-downloader/ […]

  46. Todd Cretacci says:

    Hi Tim! Great job on the session downloader. I can’t seem to download anything today. Is there a problem? I tried on both a Win7 and Win8 machine. Thanks!

  47. Download All the Tech-Ed North America 2014 Videos and Slides | Just a Lync Guy says:

    […] the Session Downloader tool from the guys at Infoworks.tv, you can choose from a variety of past events, choose the type […]

  48. Chris Rivers says:

    Love the app! Used it last year after TechEd NA and am using it again this year. Having a resume download function would be great, especially for downloading the videos.

    Keep up the great work and I’ll see you again next year! :)

    Chris

  49. Channel 9 videos available from TechEd US 2014 | vNiklas Virtualization blog says:

    […] can use my colleague Tim´s session downloader and further down in this post I have added the list of the sessions that made my week great and […]

  50. Cesare Auteri says:

    Hi Tim,

    I felt like using your downloader again (it’s the best one so far) to download Teched2014NA but I doesn’t seem to get any sessions. Is it my installation or is something wrong with the data again?

    • Tim Nilimaa says:

      Hi Cesare Auteri,
      Thanks for pointing this out. As I’m writing this reply, an updated version of the tool is uploading to the site. Simply restart the app 2 times and you should be prompted to update the second time. Take a look in the version history tab when it’s updated :)

  51. Rich Watkins says:

    Very nice! Hope you keep it going. Searching Channel9 can be a little cumbersome. Your app is great and very useful!

  52. Selvin Goulbourne says:

    Hi Tim,

    is it possible to add the MEC 2014 and Lync conference 2014 sessions

  53. Charbel says:

    Hello Tim,

    Could you please add TechEd New Zealand and TechEd Australia 2014?

    Thanks,

    • Tim Nilimaa says:

      Charbel,
      TechEd Australia 2014, are you sure? I can’t find any info about that event on Channel9. New Zealand 2014 have been added.

  54. Charbel says:

    Hello Tim,

    Hope all is well.

    TechEd Australia 2014 is not up yet until the end of the month including TechEd Europe 2014.

    System Center Universe Europe 2014 is online.

    http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/SCUE2014

    Could you please add it?

    Thanks,

  55. vNiklas Virtualization blog » Using PowerShell to download Teched Europe 2014 content says:

    […] former colleague Tim has made a GUI session downloader and that is nice, but I wanted one with PowerShell and of course where I could select a category […]

  56. Venkat.KL says:

    Hi Dear Tim Nilimaa,

    Though, this tool is very very useful in downloading SELECTIVE VIDEOS / SESSIONS from a particular Event say “BUILD 2014″ OR any other, I am finding it difficult since it is not working properly on Windows 8.1. Will It work Normally without disturbing accessing internet (because there were some proxy settings after installing this tool and it is affecting me even to access the internet either in IE or Firefox. I used the first link provided on this page. “http://infoworks.tv/wp-content/uploads/sessiondownloader/publish.htm”

    BTW, will It work on Virtual Machine? Please let me/us know.

    Warm Regards,

    • Tim Nilimaa says:

      We do not alter you proxy settings when you use this tool. It is built and tested on Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 TP. What error do you experience Venkat?
      It does work on a VM.

  57. kloby says:

    Thank you ! Great work !