diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/tudou.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/tudou.py
index 84fe71aef8..5f7ac4b35b 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/tudou.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/tudou.py
@@ -2,14 +2,12 @@
 
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
-import re
-import json
-
 from .common import InfoExtractor
+from ..compat import compat_str
 
 
 class TudouIE(InfoExtractor):
-    _VALID_URL = r'https?://(?:www\.)?tudou\.com/(?:listplay|programs(?:/view)?|albumplay)/.*?/(?P<id>[^/?#]+?)(?:\.html)?/?(?:$|[?#])'
+    _VALID_URL = r'https?://(?:www\.)?tudou\.com/(?:listplay|programs(?:/view)?|albumplay)/([^/]+/)*(?P<id>[^/?#]+?)(?:\.html)?/?(?:$|[?#])'
     _TESTS = [{
         'url': 'http://www.tudou.com/listplay/zzdE77v6Mmo/2xN2duXMxmw.html',
         'md5': '140a49ed444bd22f93330985d8475fcb',
@@ -27,41 +25,41 @@ class TudouIE(InfoExtractor):
             'title': 'La Sylphide-Bolshoi-Ekaterina Krysanova & Vyacheslav Lopatin 2012',
             'thumbnail': 're:^https?://.*\.jpg$',
         }
+    }, {
+        'url': 'http://www.tudou.com/albumplay/cJAHGih4yYg.html',
+        'only_matching': True,
     }]
 
     _PLAYER_URL = 'http://js.tudouui.com/bin/lingtong/PortalPlayer_177.swf'
 
-    def _url_for_id(self, id, quality=None):
-        info_url = "http://v2.tudou.com/f?id=" + str(id)
+    def _url_for_id(self, video_id, quality=None):
+        info_url = 'http://v2.tudou.com/f?id=' + compat_str(video_id)
         if quality:
             info_url += '&hd' + quality
-        webpage = self._download_webpage(info_url, id, "Opening the info webpage")
-        final_url = self._html_search_regex('>(.+?)</f>', webpage, 'video url')
+        xml_data = self._download_xml(info_url, video_id, "Opening the info XML page")
+        final_url = xml_data.text
         return final_url
 
     def _real_extract(self, url):
         video_id = self._match_id(url)
         webpage = self._download_webpage(url, video_id)
 
-        m = re.search(r'vcode:\s*[\'"](.+?)[\'"]', webpage)
-        if m and m.group(1):
-            return {
-                '_type': 'url',
-                'url': 'youku:' + m.group(1),
-                'ie_key': 'Youku'
-            }
+        youku_vcode = self._search_regex(
+            r'vcode\s*:\s*[\'"]([^\'"]*)[\'"]', webpage, 'youku vcode', default=None)
+        if youku_vcode:
+            return self.url_result('youku:' + youku_vcode, ie='Youku')
 
         title = self._search_regex(
-            r",kw:\s*['\"](.+?)[\"']", webpage, 'title')
+            r',kw\s*:\s*[\'"]([^\'"]+)[\'"]', webpage, 'title')
         thumbnail_url = self._search_regex(
-            r",pic:\s*[\"'](.+?)[\"']", webpage, 'thumbnail URL', fatal=False)
+            r',pic\s*:\s*[\'"]([^\'"]+)[\'"]', webpage, 'thumbnail URL', fatal=False)
 
         player_url = self._search_regex(
-            r"playerUrl\s*:\s*['\"](.+?\.swf)[\"']",
+            r'playerUrl\s*:\s*[\'"]([^\'"]+\.swf)[\'"]',
             webpage, 'player URL', default=self._PLAYER_URL)
 
-        segs_json = self._search_regex(r'segs: \'(.*)\'', webpage, 'segments')
-        segments = json.loads(segs_json)
+        segments = self._parse_json(self._search_regex(
+            r'segs: \'([^\']+)\'', webpage, 'segments'), video_id)
         # It looks like the keys are the arguments that have to be passed as
         # the hd field in the request url, we pick the higher
         # Also, filter non-number qualities (see issue #3643).