I want to save the occasional streaming audio file from the internet to a playable file on my computer. There is a lot of excellent info on this topic on the Afterdawn site, and one thread mentioned doing so with a Winamp plug-in. I use Winamp, so that seemed like the simplest approach.
So, I went to the list of plug-ins on the Winamp site and found lots of them. However, trying to figure which one to use for my task was not so easy. I tried narrowing the list with a search, but that didn't help. Everything I found seemed to be not quite what I wanted and most weren't even close (and I thought my needs were simple!)
I'm new to this, so I hoped someone who has done this could offer a pointer or two.
Thanks much. I downloaded and installed Stream Ripper and it works great? However, it made me aware of another problem I have, namely, how to make WinAmp my default player. Despite my setting all file associations I could find to use WinAmp instead of Windows Music Player, WMP still comes up when I click on "listen" on some websites wil audio. Any way to fix this?
Otherwise, might you know of any Stream Ripper type plug-ins for Real Player (or Real Alternative) and Media Player?
I tried "Select ALL" when setting file associations in Winamp.
Then I checked file ssociations under Control Panel > Folders.
Seemed OK. If I double ckick on a an audio file listed Explorer, WinAmp does come up as I expect it to. However, on some websites, notably the Natl Public Radio site (NPR.ORG,) when I click a "lsiten"
button" A window pops up giving me the choice of Real Player or windows media Player. (I use Real Alternative instead of Real Player.)
Clicking Real Player lets me save the file or run it. I usually save it. However, it's not a music file, only a pointer text file about 390 bytes containing info about the piece. it has an ".smil" extension. Real Alternative plays this file quite nicely - it downloads the audio from the web.
When I click on the website button to play the file with Windows Media Player, WMP comes up and it does play the file. However, nothing I have tried will cause WinAmp to come up instead of WMP.
I expect this behavior is intentional; Somebody must have worked hard to get it to do this.
I was going to try to replace the mplayer.exe (the Win Med Player file) with the WinAmp executable file (mplayerc.exe) after renaming it to mplayer.exe. I haven't tried this yet, but I'll bet windows will not allow it.
Let me reiterate that I also tried copying the actual URL used by Win Media Player to fetch the piece and placing the URL in Winamp. One can get the URL from the WMP playlist: While the piece is playing, high light it in the playlist, rightclick, select Properties and copy the URL. Then, Run this URL in Winamp.
Sounded like a possible workaround, but it doesn't work.
Any further info would be appreciated.
I finally bit the bullet and did it the old fashioned way I dounlaoded Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) which is a freeware cross platform Sound editor and recorder. I thought it was supposed to work without the need to jumper the line out to the line in on you sound car. Well, it sort of worked for me that way, but the sound volume was way too low (even with all the gain controls set to max) and the sound was tinny. So, I jumpered the lines, and it works beautifully. Anything that comes out of my speakers I can record and save as a wav or mp3 file. Problem is, to record, I must go from digital to analog and back to digital. I hoped to stay within the digital domain for more accurate reproduction.
I found some other programs many free -that might be ablt ot do this, but they are over my head. Some use Java (jar files) or B2x files or unix. I am a simple man! Sigh.
I'm still interested in copying streaming audio and keeping it a digital format if anyone knows how to do this. Stream Ripper is a great program, but it doesnt seem to do what I need. In fact, I haven't yet figured out what it actually does do that I cannot do in other ways. (However, this is most likely due to my ignorance, and not shortcomings in the program)
