How To Record Streaming Audio

[sleddriver]

I'm having trouble figuring this out. First, I tried MS+ Digital Media Ed. I've successfully used it for digitizing records & tapes. Under "Sound Device" the only option is SigmaTelAudio. Under "Input Channel", there's Line-In, Mic & Rear Mic. I selected Line-In, and DME proceeds to auto adjust the input levels. However, the signal is very weak. (I can hear it fine out of my speakers). Perhaps the built-in sound chip on the Dell Dim 5150 MB doesn't easily allow for doing this? Will I need to loop Line-Out back into Line-In for this to work?

Next I opened WMP to see if it could do this. If it can, I can't figure it out.

Next I dwnld'd Free Sound Recorder off of Cnet. (I managed to bypass the toolbar issue by careful reading). Same problem: Weak audio and no input choices other than those above. I'm doubting the claims of "easily record what you hear." So far no joy. Sounds like I'm being limited by the on-board audio config?

Additional reading revealed some are tied to yahoo, real,napster streamers, etc. I'm not sure what SW is being used by the radio station I want to record. It IS Flash based though.

Here's the addr of the stations "Listen Live" flash-based player: http://player.radio.com/player/RadioPlayer.php?version=1.2.12366&station=85

So I've got the signal going through my speakers. I'm assuming the onboard sound chips D/A converter is being used to convert the stream to audio. But there doesn't seem to be an internal path for the line level audio to be accessed by any of these recorder programs I've tried.

Please Advise. Thanks.

 

[CivicFan]

You could try Audacity open source product.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

 

[sleddriver]

I've used Audacity before. Thought I had it on this machine. Must be on another. I'll give it a try. However, I found this which might be a clue to my problem, ie: limited sound HW:

Quote:
Recording

Audacity can record live audio through a microphone or mixer, or digitize recordings from cassette tapes, vinyl records, or minidiscs. With some sound cards, it can also capture streaming audio.

* Record from microphone, line input, or other sources.
* Dub over existing tracks to create multi-track recordings.
* Record up to 16 channels at once (requires multi-channel hardware).
* Level meters can monitor volume levels before, during, and after recording.

 

[sleddriver]

From this post, SigmaTel devices were used in several machines from early to mid-2000's. Then aquired by Freescale, then gutted. So if the on-board sound is at fault, I may need a true sound card that has this capability.

 

[CivicFan]

I have always been able to capture streaming audio with Audacity. The volume is controlled by the speaker volume setting from Windows or the player.

 

[sleddriver]

Installed Audacity; set vol. to max; clicked the red dot (record); nothing but a straight line! No joy.

Still researching.....

 

[sleddriver]

I'm now able to record! I had to loop line-out from my amp back to line-in on the on-board audio connector. Evidently, it's not capable of doing this internally. . . .

 

[Rick in PA]

I've found on a couple of computers that Audacity (at least the version I'm running) doesn't play well with Realtec audio. That's the audio on two of my HP machines. Couldn't get it to work no matter what buttons I pushed. I ended up installing a Sound Blaster card in one machine in order to use Audacity.

I tried the line-out to line-in loop, but wasn't satisfied with the audio quality.

 

[sleddriver]

Further research has revealed that 'stereo mix' as a source has been deleted/disabled/grayed out by some manufacturers to please the RIAA, comply with DRM and prohibit easily recording streaming audio. I dug around a bit to locate the driver, wondering if it was possible to edit it to enable SM as a source, then gave up. The loop works for me as a quick fix as I'm only interested in local talk shows in other cities.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Applian's Replay Music product is $19.99. It's quite good and have used it many times in the past for recording media streams, external audio sources and such.

 

[bakechad]

For mp3 & ogg streams, Streamripper works very well:

http://streamripper.sourceforge.net/


Chad