GDELTtools is a package for the R statistical package that makes it easy to download all or some of the GDELT event data, subset it on different variables, and normalize it to make valid time series analysis easier. The latest version 1.2 supports the new GDELT server and adds several new features. The new GetAllOfGDELT function makes it trivial to download and update your local version of the entire data set. Automatic MD5 checking ensures the completeness and integrity of downloaded files.
If you use R, GDELTtools is the easiest way to start working with GDELT.