I've seen lots of good advice on this forum about recording streaming audio when it's being played through the application (WinAmp or JetAudio or whatever) that's doing the audio capture. But I want to record some National Public Radio programs so that I can replay them later on my mp3 player. But NPR streams its audio through a stripped down version of RealPlayer. Is there some software I can use that can save that audio to my hard drive?
Not sure if this helps: You may first use "StreamBox VCR 1.0 beta 31smf+turbo" to download the real player file, and then load it onto "Streambox Ripper" to convert it to WMA or MP3. That way you can burn it on CD-R or transfer to your MP3 player. How to download with StreamBox VCR 1.0. It's more critical about how you get the real address where the file is located. On NPR, you may notice you need to click "Listen" then it would ask to choose Real Player or Window Media Player before you can listen to any programs. So right there, right-mouse click on the Real Player, and choose "Save link as", let's say to save on your desktop, and then open that file with a word editor, e.g. wordpad. Then you may search the link inside. The link would be something like this: rtsp://real.npr.na-central.speedera.net:80/real.npr.na-central/wc/20050922_wc_01.rm After you find this kind link, it's fairly easy, just paste it on StreamBox VCR, it will download it, then you can do the convertion or just listen on your PC...etc..whatever you like. Anyway, hope this helps. Ben.
Thanks a heap, Ben. It sounds exactly what I want. I haven't managed to get the proper link yet, though. The NPR site doesn't give me a choice of players (maybe I've selected RP before and it remembers) and right-clicking on the player image itself, or on anything else I can find to right-click on) doesn't give me a "save link as" option. So I hit "select a new player" but on the screen that resulted there was nothing to click on, only the (non-hypertext) names of three alternatives with a check box next to each. Thanks for your help anyway, mate; it's got me part-way there. Jack
Hi Jack, Have found the solution for you!! This is what you need to do. Let it start to play on the real player when hit "Listen", then on the Real Player, select under File - Clip Properties - Clip Source. The link is right there. You don't even need to save the file on your desktop. I have tried on a couple of radio programs and they work. So, try it yourself. Good luck, Ben.
Hey, I do appreciate your help, Ben. The local NPR feed uses a stripped-down version of RP with very limited menus, but it did give me the option of transferring the stream to the full version, so I was able to do what you suggested, and it automatically transferred the URL via the clipboard to the Paste URL function of StreamBox. I haven't managed to get it to start recording yet; there must be something in the setup that I haven't figured out (What, me read a manual!). But I'm one step closer. Thanks again.
You are welcome, Jack. It took me a while to figure out how I could download programs from KCRW Radio sometimes ago. So, I thought I would not mind to share whatever I know to people having bumped into the same problem as I did. Anyway, I am not sure how it did not work for you. If according to what you said, it seemed you successfully got the URL and then paste it into Streambox VCR, once you click ok, that's all it is. Nothing more. It should automatically get the program onto your computer, it will store in its received folder under Program Files\StreamboxVcrSuite2\StreamBoxVCR1Beta31\received\ if you didn't change its setting. Anyway, give you an example, here is a npr program of David Gray: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4828596 Once you click "Listen", Real Player will pop up. Like I mentioned on my last post, under File\Clip Properties\Clip Source, you would find something like this: <smil> <meta name="title" content="World Cafe - Friday, September 9, 2005" /> <meta name="author" content="http://www.npr.org/" /> <meta name="copyright" content="2005" /> <body> <audio src="http://web.lightningcast.net/servlets/getAd?version=4.5a&naid=175&playerid=1&streamref=10039&session=U957987131127476059562&spot=[0,0]&ext=.rm" /> <audio src="rtsp://real.npr.na-central.speedera.net:80/real.npr.na-central/wc/20050909_wc_01.rm" title="David Gray, Developing New Textures of Pop" author="World Cafe - Friday, September 9, 2005" copyright="2005" /> </body> </smil> Copy this one: rtsp://real.npr.na-central.speedera.net:80/real.npr.na-central/wc/20050909_wc_01.rm instead of the http one. And then, open your StreamBox VCR 1.0 Beta 31smf + turbo program, I wonder if you have installed the whole package of Streambox which contains lots of versions of the same program, anyway, use the one says (try this one - fastest). Once the program is opened, under Edit\Paste Link, you should see the link which you copy earlier pasted at the Location field. You may change the destination and output filename if you want, I usually just leave it to what it is. Then, ok. You should see the download going. If it gives your connection error message, or it just freezes there, there must be a wrong URL address. You may want to check that again. This is all I know, I guess. Hope it works for you! Ben.
