unless you’re technically inclined and know how to use proxies or stream your music collection, downloading music from behind the company firewall can be tricky. to compensate, we often just navigate to launch or some other internet radio station and listen. then, just like that, your favorite song that you haven’t heard in FOREVER queues up and get one listen, try to remember to download when it you get home, and end up getting sidetracked by something else.
well, i say NO MORE!
recording audio from the internet is the equivalent of taping your favorite song off of the radio. as long as you don’t try to sell or mass distribute the file, it’s legal. in this tutorial, i’ll show you the magic in quick and easy steps.
first, download the free and open-source program audacity. it’s available for windows and mac.
get the lame mp3 encoder. this will allow you to turn your recorded file into an mp3 so you can listen to it on your favorite dap. note this file location.
be sure to change your recording channels to ‘stereo’ via the edit -> preferences -> audio i/o selecting ‘stereo’ from the channels menu.
find the source you want to record. i like to use either imeem, launch, or random myspace music. most times, corporate blocks myspace and some imeem sites, so launch is a safe bet. the only thing with launch is that you won’t be able to rewind, only pause. you’ll have to be quick with the record button! if you saw my earlier post about music for masses, you can also record from that. the quality won’t be as good, however, since the encrypted mp3′s will be in a low bitrate and often have skips.
in order to test the input of how loud the source music is, click the ‘monitor input’ option from the drop-down arrow.
just like you did back-in-the-day, you typically want to press record on audacity before you press play on the audio you want to record.
now that the audio is done, lets go back and trim the silent parts. simply highlight it and press delete.
once the audio is how you like it, you can export it to mp3. simply go to file -> export as mp3. if this is your first time using audacity (and i assume that it is), audacity will ask you where the lame mp3 encoder file you downloaded earlier. simply point it to that file.
once you give the file a name (be sure to include the .mp3 extension), give it a proper ID3v1 tag. most people skip this, but it really helps as your library grows. the id3v1 tags help identify the song in not only your computer music player, but also your dap.
once you’ve given your file a name and proper id3 tag, you’re done! you can also experiment with you’re recordings with the effect menu option. have fun!
kia
that is so hot! thanks for sharing! can’t wait to try it at home!
March 6, 2007 at 11:43 am
Fredric
thanks. enjoy!
March 6, 2007 at 12:04 pm
JC
Wow, gotta love the loopholes that help the workday go by just a little more quickly. However, looking at those steps, it makes me even more thankful for the suddenly oh-so-useful “Line in” jack on my sound card. Plug in the mp3 playa and ride….
March 6, 2007 at 5:01 pm
'michael vick is an embarrassment' edition : tech news 7/18 | Young Black Professional Guide
[...] a cool little freebie. the new tech columnist over at the tribe has a neat article that expounds on our previous audacity post regarding recording free music and extends that philosophy to making your own ringtones. while i [...]
July 18, 2007 at 12:25 pm
sade
WOW. thanks so much! this was really helpful.
August 1, 2007 at 4:41 pm
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August 26, 2007 at 12:26 pm
pandora: better internet radio | Young Black Professional Guide
[...] up to let the project know they are on the right track. if you couple this with my article about recording internet audio, you’ve got the next generation of online music [...]
January 8, 2008 at 12:53 am
iTunes Alternatives | Young Black Professional Guide
[...] MP3 Store (I haven’t played with this yet Google Hack Method (I use this occassionally Ripping from Live Stream Method (for those hidden gems you can’t [...]
June 30, 2008 at 8:55 am
LookLively
There are lots of options out there. Audacity is “ok”. For a better listening experience, greater variety and extremely easy recording effort I suggest
(1)Winamp – audio and video player
(2)StreamRipper Plugin – a one click recording process
Both are free. Both are highly regarded. Winamp has incredible content supplied primarily by Shoutcast, which has well over 20,000 radio stations from around the world. Why settle for just “Jazz”, when you can choose between Nigerian, Sweden or Brazilian Jazz? How about American Jazz, but hosted from England, so you can see what aspects of our Jazz they enjoy most? Or listen to Jazz from American artists that was never sold here? You get where I am going with this. Television, music videos and major motion pictures are also shown on shoutcast through your Winamp player.
Winamp works like Media Player – but better. You can view your hard drive music library by name, album cover, genre, etc. The video player is excellent!
Streamripper automatically starts in your system tray whenever you open Winamp, so you’re always ready to record at a moments notice. One button does everything. You can choose where you want to store files for use later. It seperates complete from incomplete files (in case you come in during a song only get a part of it.) It doesn’t edit audio – but let’s face more users wouldn’t take the time to learn that anyway.
These two free products are by far the best audio/video combo I have used, and I have been through a score of good free and premium (paid) products.
July 1, 2008 at 3:33 pm