Industry guru Dave Taylor answers free tech support questions about a wide variety of business and technical topics, including blogging, Google AdSense, MySpace, Sony PSP, Apple iPod, Mp3 players, management, Linux, SEO, Mac OS X, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Microsoft Windows.

How do I record FM radio on my RCA Lyra player?

I've been playing with my RCA Lyra RD-2312A Mp3 player and it's pretty good, but I'm intrigued by one thing: it apparently can record FM broadcasts right off the air? Cool. How do I do that, and, when I have a recording, how can I get that off the Lyra and onto my computer?


Dave's Answer:

The RCA Lyra is a pretty slick little device in all its many guises (check out their latest audio players to see what I mean) but I have to say that my experience with the FM receiver in my own RD2312A Lyra has been less than stellar. Even with the strongest signals in my area, reception is very random and susceptible to even the slightest change in body position.

Anyway, even with mediocre FM reception I can show you how to record on your Lyra and hopefully your results will be better than my own.

Your first step is to Go to Radio at the top level menu:

RCA Lyra recording FM radio

Now you are looking at the FM tuner and hopefully listening to your favorite radio station:

RCA Lyra recording FM radio

To record what you're hearing, click on the REC button on the device:

RCA Lyra recording FM radio

Now you're recording what you're hearing:

RCA Lyra recording FM radio

When you're finished with whatever you're recording, press "stop" on the controls and it'll be done.

Want to listen to it again? Navigate to the other top level menu (yes, I also find the menu system on the Lyra completely Byzantine!) and you'll see Radio Recs:

RCA Lyra recording FM radio

Pick the one you'd like to hear from the list:

RCA Lyra recording FM radio

And that's all there is to it.

Copying radio recordings to your computer

Finally, you need to hook your Lyra up to your computer, either a Mac or PC will work. On my Mac, here's what I see when the device is connected via USB:

RCA Lyra -- FM Recording Capability -- Mounted on Mac OS X

Open up the folder labeled FM and you'll see your radio recording or recordings. I see this:

RCA Lyra -- FM Recordings -- Mounted on Mac OS X

My recording FM001.MP3 is forty seconds of recording, as Mac OS X so helpfully shows me, and the file size is 642KB. Wanna listen? Just click this:

Listen to 40 seconds of jazz FM from my RCA Lyra RD2312A

As you can see, the reception isn't too good, but hopefully this will at least show you exactly how you can record and work with your own FM recordings from the radio.

Good luck and let us know how it all works out for you!



Help others find this article at Del.icio.us, Digg, Netscape, Reddit, and Simpy.
Still Have Sony PSP Questions?
Looking for all your Sony PSP answers in one place, organized as a convenient quick reference work? Then you need Dave's Everything Guide to the Sony PSP, a 150-page ebook ready for you to download right now!
buy now!

Subscribe!

Never miss another useful Q&A article again! Subscribe to AskDaveTaylor with Google Reader.

Comments
Rather amazingly, there are no comments on this article yet.

I have a lot to say, but ...
Starbucks coffee cup I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!









Remember personal info?


Please note that I will never send you any unsolicited commercial email. Ever.

While I'm at it, please note that by submitting a question or comment you're agreeing to my terms of service, which are: you relinquish any subsequent rights of ownership to your material by submitting it on this site.









Uniblue: Free Virus Scan

Search
Find just the answers you seek from among our 1700+ free tech support articles by using our Lijit search engine.


Help!





Subscribe to
Ask Dave Taylor!

Add to Google Reader
Add to My Yahoo!
Subscribe in NewsGator Online

RDF   XML

Free Updates!
Sign up and get free weekly updates and special offers on books, seminars, workshops and more.


Recent Entries
Join the List!
Join my author info mailing list, where you'll learn about my upcoming books, speaking gigs, and more!


Book Links
© 2002 - 2008 by Dave Taylor. All Rights Reserved.

Note: This web site is for the purpose of disseminating information for educational purposes, free of charge, for the benefit of all visitors. We take great care to provide quality information. However, we do not guarantee, and accept no legal liability whatsoever arising from or connected to, the accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness of any material contained on this web site or on any linked site.

[whiteboard marker tray]