Is there a straightforward way to download data from OpenStreetMap (OSM)?

Using North America as an example, I realize Cloudmade ([http://downloads.cloudmade.com/north_america][1]) and geofabrik ([http://download.geofabrik.de/osm/north-america/][2]) both provide downloads, but the files are enormous (0.5gb - 4gb). I've also tried using the QGIS-OSM toolbar but I have not had much luck doing this, as similar to the OSM website the area you can select is very small. The amount of data I want to download is at the city level.

Finally, is there an easy of using OSM data? If I choose to download `OpenStreetMap XML Data` I can't open the osm.xml files using QGIS (even using the QGIS-OSM toolbar import function). I wonder if I'm missing a more obvious way of dealing with the data.


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I just want to point out the very useful StackExchange clone for help with OSM related issues! [http://help.openstreetmap.org/][3]


  [1]: http://downloads.cloudmade.com/north_america
  [2]: http://download.geofabrik.de/osm/north-america/
  [3]: http://help.openstreetmap.org/