 |  | turn Internet radio streams into MP3 files |  | | By Holly Cunningham | | (9/08/03) |
Back in the day, when cassettes offered the latest in compact audio storage, the beginning notes of a beloved song on the radio could send you into headlong flight across the room to stab at a Record button and put a subpar microphone near your speaker. Well, life, as those long-ago songs promised, has gotten better--or at least easier, where nabbing those inspirational ditties is concerned. StreamRipper32 makes capturing Internet broadcast songs in MP3 format childs play, and the only sweat youll break will be during your victory dance.
Set it up
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StreamRipper32 |
Record streaming MP3s as individual files on your hard drive.
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On the main StreamRipper32 screen, click the double-dot button next to the Destination field in the Output section and browse to the folder where you want to save your MP3s. Dont leave this until later or youll spend a lot of time hunting down and moving your files. Unlike other stream-ripping programs, StreamRipper32 can interpret metadata, such as artist and track names, in Shoutcast streams, which lets the program save the broadcast as separate MP3 tracks instead of making you break tracks apart manually. StreamRipper32 creates subdirectories on the fly for captured broadcasts, and creates an incomplete subdirectory for songs that are currently being captured or are interrupted.
Let it rip
Now, things get interesting. At the bottom of the main interface, youll see a Shoutcast.com Directory area with a Genre drop-down menu. Choose a genre to your liking and hit the Refresh List button. The program lists all the Shoutcast stations for your genre. Double-click a station to automatically load its IP address into the Broadcast parameters box (if you already know a station address, you can manually enter it). Hit the Start Rip button in the Control area of StreamRipper32's interface screen, and youre on your way. For stations with mirror broadcasts, a pop-up window shows you the available mirrors. As the stream gets recorded, the station and track information displays with the byte-transfer stats. Give StreamRipper32 a moment to connect. Depending on the station, it can be slow, and if no connection can be made the program will time out and post an error message.
Sidestep the blockades
The big and little broadcast guys posit two different ends of the trouble spectrum when using StreamRipper32. You may get 404-type error messages for small, non-24-hour broadcasters depending on when you hit them, or you may get an error message that says Access Forbidden or Unauthorized Request from large broadcasters who dont like StreamRipper32s user agent ID. Although we can only counsel patience for the former, for the latter try clicking the More Options button and changing the user from StreamRipper to FreeAmp/2x, or blank in the windows that open. Resign yourself to moving on if this trick doesnt work--Live365 streams and some other prominent media broadcasters won't be fooled.
Get specific in your demands
You can set up StreamRipper32 to search for particular artists or tracks to rip when theyre played on a Shoutcast channel. For stations kind enough to supply it, StreamRipper32 puts track information in the main channel directory, letting you see if theres anything good coming up. You can also enable Station/Song Matching by clicking the check box, then hitting the Add button and entering a likely station with your artist or title keywords. To search all stations, put an any_match wildcard in the station pattern box, which will rip matches from any station when theyre played. To listen to your music, just browse to the folder you indicated as the Destination. StreamRipper32 creates a new folder for each Internet radio station you rip.
Holly Cunningham, a frequent contributor to CNET, is a freelance Web designer working primarily to keep her Chihuahua in furs.
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