Anyone know a good free program to record streaming audio?

[wolf7]

Hi,

Does anyone here know of a good free program to record streaming audio? The features I'm looking for are the ability to record an audio stream upon start up of the media player, or if it doesn't have this feature then a timer would be nice that could start and stop the recording when you want.

I am also looking for the ability to record more than just shoutcast/icecast streams. It seems like most of the free streaming audio recorders won't tune in to other stream types like streams that are mainly for Windows media player. Quintessential Player is one example.

What I don't want is just another program that records the sound going through your soundcard, because they will record any other Windows sounds also along with your recording of the stream.

I have found a variety of free stream recorders that cover almost all the features I'm looking for, but no one free player seems to cover them all. I realize it may be a lot to ask for in a free program, but I would greatly appreciate any info about a free streaming audio recorder that has all of the above features.

Thanks very much for any assistance/recommendations.

[Carol Haynes]

The only easy solution I have found is URL Snooper (from the Downloads section here) to find the actual link being addressed for the media file and StreamBox VCR (which is easily found in Google) to actually download the file.

I haven't found anything that actuallygrabs the stream now playing - if you find one I would be interested too.

[vegas]

Unfortunately I know of no free programs.  But if you ever were to consider a program that costs money, I must say I have been a happy registered user of Total Recorder for 4+ years  (www.highcriteria.com)

edit:  i would be curious to hear of what other programs you checked out, free or not.

[mouser]

sure there are several good free ones
depending on what you are trying to capture.

for real media and most windows media, streambox vcr suite which is discontinued and abandonware:

this page looks interesting: http://all-streaming-media.com/record-video-stream/all-streaming-video-recording-software.htm

but the best place to find tools for this and discuss it is the following forum and this page lists some software: http://p082.ezboard.com/fstreemeboxvcrfrm7.showMessage?topicID=1.topic

[Nighted]

Streamripper 

[wolf7]

Thanks very much guys (& gals?) for the recommendations.

Mouser, wow! Thanks for all those links!  Looks like some good stuff there. I'll have to look through all the programs, may take some time, but that's ok.

I'm not sure, but I think Total Recorder will just record the sounds going through your soundcard and not just the stream. This is what I want to avoid, incase I'm doing something else on my computer while I'm recording a stream, because all the other Windows sounds will be recorded also along with the stream. Plus it's not free.

StreamRipper and StationRipper are useful for recording Shoutcast and Icecast streams, but I can't usually get them to work for much else.

Here's some of the other programs I've tried that can record streams and I didn't see posted about here so far, or in any of the links :

Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ will record any sound going through your sound card and save as wav or mp3. So you could use it to record any streams that you can hear, but again it will record all other sounds on your computer as well. It also has a long conversion time and no timer function that I'm aware of.

Audio Grabber http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/ I'm sure many of you have already heard of it, but may not be aware it can be used to record any sound going through your soundcard, like streaming audio.   I can't use this for my ops because it will record every other sound on your computer as well as the stream, but it is still very useful in some cases. And a plus with Audio Grabber is it has a nice timer feature to start and stop your recordings.

Jet Audio http://www.jetaudio.com/products/jetaudio/ free version can be used to record streams, but you can't save as mp3, you have to purchase that option for $9.US  It also has a timer feature. But not a freebie if you want to save as mp3 like I do, and it doesn't seem to lock on to the streams as well as some of the other media players I've tested, e.g. it often rebuffers with some streams. Also I can't get it to work with rtsp.

Quintessential Player http://www.quinnware.com/ is a nice one! I really like this one, but again it only seems to be able to get Shoutcast/Icecast streams, for the most part, and I am looking for a stream recorder that will play and record more than just Shoutcast, mainly Windows Media Streams(mms, http and rtsp). I would highly recommend trying this free program though for anyone who wants a real nice free media player with many options.

Screamer Radio http://www.screamer-radio.com/ is another nice freebie. It is simple and records direct to mp3, but it has no timer of any kind. But what I do like about it is you can set it to play the last stream you were listening to when you open the program, but it won't open and "record" the last stream. So you have to manually click record every time. Still this little gem is great at recording a variety of audio streams direct to mp3. It won't record real media though and some others I suppose, I haven't tested it that much yet to know for sure.

I've tried quite a few other Media players also, but most are lacking all the features I want in a free player. I'll probably just have to breakdown and finally pay for one, I'm such a cheapskate.   But till then the search goes on for the ideal free stream recorder.

[m_s]

You mention that some of the free tools don't record to MP3, Wolf: how about using DWPowerAmp to convert - this is a great free tool that I rely upon in my work (for converting WMA recordings from an Olympus digital voice recorder to WAV for voice-recognition, and to MP3 for distribution).  Search on Google for Version 10, which was the last one to include free MP3 encoding - nowadays you have to pay for this (due to some conflict with the Lame developers).

[kfitting]

Correction on the Audacity info: Audacity will record the channel you set the record setting in windows for.  Granted, if this happens to be wav then it will record all things going through that channel (which makes the statement above MOSTLY correct since this is where most of the sound is coming from for streams).  But it will not record all sound coming into your computer (unless you tell it to).  Minor caveat but dont want to mislead anyone.

The bigger problem with audacity for recording streams is that it will also record any jumps or skips.

Kevin

[mouser]

kfitting has hinted at the key differences between the 2 major different kinds of apps. there really are 2 classes of apps for doing this stuff.

one kind of app records any sounds playing through your sound card.  the advantage of this is that its easy to record any stream, regardless of source.  easy to record in mp3 or any format.  the problem is you have to be listening to it in real time as it records.  any bandwidth congestion, skips, pauses, etc. are all reflected in the recording.  total recorder is the quintisential app of this type.

the second kind of app is specific code to record a specific kind of stream.  the programs like streambox vcr to reacord real media streams are the best example of this type.  advantages are they may be able to download many streams at the same time (like streambox vcr can), they can download them at faster than real time, they are pure downloads with no loss of quality, no skips, no problems if you have bandwidth glitches or if you are on dial up etc.  the disadvantages are only that the complexity of this process means having different tools for different streams and that it can be hard sometimes to configure these programs correctly, and find the urls for recording (see our own url snooper program for that), etc.

so bottom line is usally if there is a specific recorder for a specifc kind of stream, you usually would want to prefer an app in the 2nd class.  failing that, a general purpose program like total recorder that records direct from the audio playback is your solution.

[tsaint]

Wolf7, you can turn off system sounds while recording using total recorder. From their help file:
"System sounds
To prevent system sounds from interrupting your recording, check "Turn off sounds assigned to system events". This is the default and the recommended setting. Your system sounds will return when you close Total Recorder."
tony

[wolf7]

Ok, thanks again guys for the help.

One of the things I'm trying to do is set up my system so I can record a long, over three hour radio program daily, along with other things, so I don't have time really to convert it from wav to mp3 everyday, that would take too long. I need to be able to record it directly to mp3 with no fiddling around with converting.

Also, I don't want to have to shut off my system sounds, I still need them on for other things, but that is good to know about Total Recorder.

I'll probably just use one of the media players I already mentioned for now, because they seem to be doing the job, but just not in as automated a fashion as I would have liked.

The reason I didn't mention about exactly how to set Audacity to record the sound through your sound card is because I guess I assumed everyone already knew how to set it to do this. For those who don't know how, one way is to set Audacity to "Stereo mix" or "Mono mix"  in the drop down menu. Then whatever sounds you can hear on your computer will be recorded.

But as Kfitting stated, you'll get all the skips and rebuffering stops and whatnot, which most people wouldn't want. That's why I want to avoid this type of recorder for capturing streams myself. I only posted about them to inform others that may not have known about these available options you can use to record with, and some of the programs I had already tested. 

The search continues.

[mouser]

net transport does very good timed scheduled recordings of realmedia streams.

[skywalka]

I use Replay Radio 2 automatically record @ the same time every weekday.  It's free 4 what I need it 4.

Net Transport has come in handy 4 me 2 though.

[brotherS]

I use Replay Radio 2 automatically record @ the same time every weekday.  It's free 4 what I need it 4.

Net Transport has come in handy 4 me 2 though.

Please post URLs for widely unknown programs if possible

After seeing that http://fileforum.betanews.com/ doesn't list Replay Radio (often a bad sign)
I was looking for reviews and while I wasn't able to find great reviews on well-known pages I found http://www.windowsmarketplace.com/reviews.aspx?itemId=979278&stext=
Maybe worth a try.

[kamalrohit]

Hi,

Does anyone here know of a good free program to record streaming audio? The features I'm looking for are the ability to record an audio stream upon start up of the media player, or if it doesn't have this feature then a timer would be nice that could start and stop the recording when you want.

I am also looking for the ability to record more than just shoutcast/icecast streams. It seems like most of the free streaming audio recorders won't tune in to other stream types like streams that are mainly for Windows media player. Quintessential Player is one example.

What I don't want is just another program that records the sound going through your soundcard, because they will record any other Windows sounds also along with your recording of the stream.

I have found a variety of free stream recorders that cover almost all the features I'm looking for, but no one free player seems to cover them all. I realize it may be a lot to ask for in a free program, but I would greatly appreciate any info about a free streaming audio recorder that has all of the above features.

Thanks very much for any assistance/recommendations.

i can advise to use replay media catcher to capture all kind of stream audio it's cool 

[brotherS]

i can advise to use replay media catcher to capture all kind of stream audio it's cool 

Please post URLs for widely unknown programs if possible

It's not on http://fileforum.betanews.com/ (as I said above that's often a bad sign), found it on http://www.applian.com/replay-media-catcher/index.php - no freeware.

[J-Mac]

Yeah, Applian doesn't give much away for nothing, that's for sure!  I have most of Applian's programs; I first purchased Replay Music from them a couple years ago, right after they released V. 2 and lifted the limit on the number of tracks you could record.  (That was actually the model for their first release - they limited you to I think 1,000 tracks!)

Then I upgraded to their Replay A/V, and then to the Suite.  Since I had made one purchase, each successive one was at a considerable discount.  Biggest problem is that as they added more programs to the suite, they would only allow me to have what was included with it as of the date I purchased it.  Weirdest damn policy I ever saw. E.g., when I upgraded to their Replay A/V Suite it had 7 programs included. They eventually added 2 more for a total of 9, but I was not allowed to have those two because they weren't part of the Suite when I upgraded.

They have nice applications there - one even allows recording of programs from a Slingbox, which are encrypted, supposedly to prevent recording them. No one else has this yet. Also, I can download ANY online videos - including YouTube - and automatically convert it to any other video format.  But all of their programs are either part of a Suite - kind of - or standalone.  They have no all-in license. So I now have about 6 or 7 different registration codes, and a lot of the time when you install an update it doesn't carry the registration over and I have to start digging around for the correct code.

I would buy a new suite if anyone would package it all together and put it under one title.

Jim