To download Hulu video or not to download Hulu video

A friend of mine called me today and told me how much he enjoyed the screencast on the Noobie web site that showed him how easy it is to watch television shows and full-length movies on the Hulu web site. He followed his comment up with a question that I found difficult to answer.

Difficult because it's the type of question that I know the answer to but am not really sure I should give out to anyone. He was asking me if he could download the videos from Hulu to his computer so he could watch them later. He was thinking this would be a great way to kill time with his laptop on long airplane trips.

The actual conversation went something like this:

Friend: Hey, can you download those Hulu videos on to your laptop so you can watch them later?

Me: Wellllllllll, no. I mean, yes. Well, no. Not really.

Friend: I was just wondering if there was an easy way to do it.

Me: (this was my out) No, there really is no easy way to do it. They don't want you to be able to do it.

Friend: But it is possible?

Me: (so much for my out) Yes, but it would require additional software and to be honest, I'm not sure it's even legal.

Friend: No problem. I just wanted to know if Hulu offered a way to do it.

Me: (whew) Nope, sorry.

Call it a side effect of being a techie but I read a lot of technical articles, blogs, etc. on the Internet so I'm always bound to come across items that explain how to do things you're not supposed to do.

Please, no one out there ask me if it is possible to remove DRM from iTunes purchased songs.