Saving Steaming Audio Content

Saving Steaming Audio Content Jason Walsh Keywords: record, mp3, mms, Microsoft Media Streaming Protocol. I'll review possible solutions for generally capturing streaming content and then review the applicability to capturing a particular radio interview for archiving. Since the the goal is simply to retain the interview itself, sound quality won't be a major concern. The solution offered won't be applicable to people who are looking to capture streaming music. Purpose Task: Make a local archival copy of the mp3 delivered using the mms:// protocol. Solutions Saved a WAV file directly using Total Recorder then converted back to MP3 with CoolEdit. For this type of problem you will need to capture the output of your sound card and convert the resulting WAV file to an MP3. Total Recorder appeared to be the best application for doing this. The evaulation version limits you to 40 seconds of sound, so other similar applications are presented below. Below are some possible ways to capture the audio stream. Windows Media Player: Save As I couldn't find any way to save from WMP or with an add-on. WinAmp: Add-ons There are several applications that should allow you to capture Shoutcast streams being played in WinAmp. http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2783776,00.html However, what's needed to caputure the above stream is mms support (typically from windows media player). Even though the release notes mention that Winamp supported this in 1.91, I was unable to get it to play the above URL (see problem report at http://www.pbsfm.org.au/nethelp.shtml ) The discussion following the ZDNet article also has some suggestions: ShoutGrab And Streamstripper ASFRecorder: Recording ASF Streams You can capture asf files that are streamed using MMS with ASFRecorder. Unfortunately, the task URI is an MP3 and the application choked on it. Real Player: Temporary files This isn't really pertinent but I did try to find a temporary file generated by WMP in C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5 and the user profile. Nothing was generated. Devices: Capture Audio Output to a File This looks like the best approach. You lose the original data but for something like this it seems adequate. Suggested solution for Windows:

Total Recorder lets you record and save any sound coming through your PC, including any streaming format, not just Shoutcast. Costs about $12 but it's a small price to pay to record eveything. User Comment on ZDNet

See http://www.highcriteria.com/productfr.htm#prod_TR for more information on Total Recorder. I tried Total Recorder version 3.2 and it worked fairly well. Another URL mentioned was http://www.looprecorder.de/ which provided similar functionality. The same could be said of CoolEdit. I haven't reverse queried Total Recorder so there could be other similar products available. On Linux It might be possible to do this with mpg123 (support for MMS is unknown) or with NetShow: http://www.linuxmafia.com/pub/linux/apps/netshow_linux.html. Network: Use a Proxy Server to Capture data Configure the Microsoft tool to use a proxy server then see if there is a way to use the filesystem to access the content. I didn't try this since it seems unlikely that the web proxy would pick up the mms:// protocol. Personal: Contact the Site for a Copy The site might have an archival service for users. Research contact points for the site. Conversion Finding a decent converter for the WAV file generated was more work than I originally anticipated. Most of the applications for converting WAV to MP3s that I found on ZDNet would just spin on the file under W2K Adv. Server and Professional. The application that finally worked was CDex. I also installed the WINlame application. See the links at http://www.sulaco.org/mp3/links.html or BladeEnc for more information.