There’s infinite streaming music and audio content flowing across the web at all times, and you can easily reach out and grab it for convenient listening and archiving.
Learning how to record streaming audio on your PC couldn’t be easier, thanks to a generous selection of recording software from Applian Technologies. There are plenty of free and commercial recording tools out there, but the Applian products are the easiest and most reliable ones around.
Recording programs fall in two categories – audio recorders and stream capture programs. Replay Media Catcher 5 is an excellent choice if you want access to both methods.
More advanced programs add radio station tuning and scheduling, and some offer audio filtering and conversion options as well.
Audio Recorders
Audio Recorders work by capturing the audio that’s about to play from your sound card. These are the most common type of recording program. Their advantage lies in their capcity to record any kind of audio, even copy protected (DRM) audio. The disadvantage is in the sound quality department — the audio is converted from a compressed format (like Windows Media or MP3) to an uncompressed format (WAV), and back to a compressed format again.
Using an audio recorder is like making a copy of a copy of a photocopy — at least a little something gets lost each time around. In most cases, the audio quality will be great, but it’s never as good as the original. The audio quality can also be affected by your PC’s sound card settings as well.
Audio recorders also pick up whatever comes out of your sound card, which means that any other audio coming through on your PC will appear in your recordings. You really don’t want to end up with the Aflac duck quacking in the background of Silent Night, Holy Night.
And audio recorders only let you record one item at a time.
Some adaptable and easy to use audio recording programs are Freecorder 7, Replay Music and Replay Radio 9.
Freecorder is a flexible, free sound recorder that outputs your tunes in MP3 files. Freecorder works right inside your Internet Explorer or Firefox browser, and it can also capture video and manage basic format conversions. You’ll see Freecorder’s friendly alien eye icon on your tool bar:
Click the green orb, and you’ll see a window offering numerous recording options, including one specifically designed for YouTube:
Replay Music is a handy audio recorder that works great for capturing songs and keep track of them. It can extract individual song files, and it also recognizes those songs and tags the MP3 files with the artist, title, album and genre data. It works really well with Digital Music Services and online radio stations that have discernible markers between songs. It can burn your collection onto CDs too.
Replay Music has a very clear and easy to use graphic interface that is not cluttered with a lot of junk you don’t really need to capture streaming audio:
Stream Capture Programs
Stream capture programs work differently – rather than recording audio as described above, these programs record streaming audio in bits and bytes directly from the server. These programs are great when it comes to audio quality — they make a perfect reproduction straight from the original server, and in many cases you can record multiple streams at the same time. These programs can also capture streaming video, too.
The downside of stream capture programs is their problems with protected audio or content from subscription sites — this kind of material often can’t be recorded. And most of these programs have no conversion capabilities, which means you can record a file but you won’t be able to play it until you find another program to convert your songs to MP3 files.
A recommended stream capture program is WM Recorder.
Those with a specific interest in internet radio should check out Replay Radio 9.
Combo Programs
There is one program that offers both Stream Capture and Audio Recording – Replay Media Catcher 5. Using the stream capturing feature, you can record several radio programs simultaneously, or record streaming audio and/or video. It can capture clips, or you can schedule recordings of live web-based broadcast audio and video.
If you want to record or capture streaming audio, there’s nothing holding you back. Just visit the Applian Technologies website today!