I seem to recall that I've read about some applications for both Mac and
Windows that let you capture a streaming audio source to a file so you can
listen to it later, slice it up, mail an excerpt to your parents, whatever.
Anyone have a clue what kind of software does this, and perhaps a few
pointers to specific applications I could download?
I polled a couple of colleagues for help with this question and here's what I found out...
Mike suggests that Streaming Audio Recorder is a good choice for the PC and they also offers a Mac product called Mac OS Audio Recorder, if you're cross platform.
Phil says that TotalRecorder will capture anything that plays to your speakers in Windows. There's also a utility floating around call ASFRecorder that will grab Microsoft audio streams
straight off the net (violating the stream-only rule, I think). I think it violates (and
predates) the DMCA, so it may be hard to find. (Hint: I've got it around here somewhere.)
Comes with source code. I don't know about a util for RealAudio, though. TotalRecorder works for it, but it has
to go through another level of compression.
Kirk says that for the Mac, there's a freeware program called StreamRipperX that's worth checking out. Ambrosia also released a nice utility called WireTap, which records any audio going out
of your Mac.
Margy shares that she's been using the PolderbitS Sound Recorder
-- It's a Windows program that can record
anything that comes out of your speakers. Their web site doesn't really
make this clear (maybe because it's translated from the Dutch), but it
works fine and you get a 15-day free trial. Once you've captured the stream, the program also makes it easy to split
the recording into tracks for recording as an audio CD. I usually use
Windows Media Player to burn the CD.
Thanks to Kirk McElhearn, Phil Hord and Margy Levine Young for their contributions to this answer
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Categorized:
Computer and Internet Basics
,
Windows PC Help
(Article 3831,
Written by
Dave Taylor)
Tagged:
audio capture, mac audio, pc audio, streaming audio, streaming audio capture
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In relation to your column of 12/30 discussing utilities that will allow recording of streaming audio, I woudl recommend Voeytra. It ahs a componeent calle Disc Orchestrator that does a bank up job recording anything that can come off your Windows sound card. It is especially good if you have a lot of cassettes, vinyl, or 8 tracks you want to burn to CDs. There are other components to the software as well that the buyers will find useful. It costs around $40 though it is probalby cheaper now.