I downloaded Audacity on a friends Windows PC yesterday, and it allowed me to export MP3 without asking for any other steps!

From Audacity’s website:

FAQ:Installing the LAME MP3 Encoder

The software patent on LAME encoding library has expired, so now the LAME library for MP3 export is built-in with Audacity for Windows and Mac. Linux users will still need to download and install the free and recommended LAME third-party encoder to export MP3 files from Audacity.

Linux users should use the following instructions to download and install the free and recommended LAME third-party encoder to export MP3 files with Audacity.

Windows: LAME is now built-in with Audacity for Windows.

Mac: LAME is now built-in with Audacity for Mac.

Linux/Unix: See the LAME installation section on Installing and updating Audacity on Linux.

Thanks!

I don’t seem to be able to find the m3u8 in network tab with Firefox, so not sure if thats my fault or if youtube changed something. I’ll think to search for the m3u8 in the network tab next time I encounter a blob elsewhere, though.

I often have trouble trying to get VLC to work with videos on youtube directly, and it didn’t seem to like the blob link from youtube as described by this article, I assume youtube changed something and VLC hasn’t been updated to keep pace.

(Article is from 2021)

So strictly speaking, blobs themselves still cannot be downloaded but it is often possible to find the stream link which will work when a blob is being used.