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How
to Capture Streaming Audio |
by:
Ross
MacIver |
Streaming
audio is all over the web these days. There
are live radio broadcasts, video and audio
streams, and many music vendors use streaming
audio as samples of their products. You
can listen to the song, but unless you buy
it, it can't be stored on your computer.
Or can it? The simple answer is "Yes"! We'll
take a look at a few methods for recording
streaming audio.
First of all, we should examine what streaming
technology is and what it is used for. The
traditional method of listening to music
or watching videos on your computer was
to download the entire file and play it
from your hard drive. Streaming works in
real time - you can view the video or listen
to the music as it is being downloaded.
The data arrives in a "stream" of bits from
the server to your computer.
The obvious advantage of streaming is saving
time - you can listen to the stream a few
seconds after the download is started. Streamed
audio and video can also be protected from
copying by Digital Rights Management (DRM)
technology. This is often done by commercial
vendors of video and audio to control distribution
of their content.
Even with DRM, however, all audio and video
streams can be recorded. The simplest way
to record streaming audio is to attach a
recorder to the output jack of your soundcard.
Any recording device - portable MP3 player,
cassette deck, MiniDisc etc. can be used.
The problem with this method is that you
have to convert the digital stream into
analog, and there will be some loss in sound
quality.
If you wish to keep the audio stream in
the digital domain, you need special software
to capture it. Most audio capture software
works by emulating a sound card. You feed
the output of the emulated sound card to
a file, and as the audio is streamed to
your computer it is captured to file. Any
kind of audio stream can be captured this
way no matter whether it is played with
Windows Media Player, Real Player, Quicktime,
or any other audio streamer.
About the Author
Ross is an enthusiast audio professional
take advantage of his knowledge about
MP3,
AAC,OGG, FLAC SHN and other compression
and capturing techniques
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