Thanks to the Internet , your radio choice are nolonger circumscribed to the local air . Maybe you want to keep up with the news in your hometown — now 2,000 miles away . Or perhaps you just ca n’t carry to leave out a single minute of your favourite methamphetamine hydrochloride - talking , hackle - fosterage , aurora wireless host — despite the fact that you have to be in the office by 8 a.m. With a cyclosis - audio player such as Apple ’s iTunes or QuickTime Player , RealNetworks ’ RealOne , or Microsoft ’s Windows Media Player , radio programs can be delivered correctly to your screen background .
But like any radio broadcast , streaming audio is a fleeting affair : although players can connect you to live broadcasts from around the universe , they do n’t lay in that audio frequency on your hard drive . If you want to add your favourite Internet radiocommunication programme to your iTunes subroutine library or heed to it on your iPod , you ’ll need additional software .
I quiz five cheap utility that put down well out sound recording , as well as any other sound your Mac can play . you could target some of the live sets from a concert videodisc onto your iPod , for example , or you could record the soundtrack and explosion of a favorite video secret plan if that ’s your theme of leisurely hearing . Here ’s a look at these utilities , and at how to optimise your audio once you have the public utility that ’s right-hand for you .
By the way , the recordings you make are only for personal use . If you share recordings of Internet radio or videodisc content , you could receive some sound correspondence .
For the Casual Recorder
If you only occasionally want to commemorate audio recording , you probably do n’t require or need complicated features . You certainly do n’t want to drop a lot of money on the endeavor . For you , there ’s Ambrosia Software ’s free WireTap (; Mac Gems , January 2004 ) .
Recording with WireTap could n’t be simpler : you just start the audio root and tap the Record clit . A second push lets you hesitate and resume the recording — with child for shorten out commercials . When you ’re done , you’re able to drag the resulting audio file into Apple ’s QuickTime Player or iTunes for playback .
However , WireTap ’s simplicity does have a downside : it records every sound your Mac produces . If your e - mail computer programme chimes during a talk - radio show , that gong will be in your final recording .
For Serious Sound
If you need to be more selective about your sound , you ’ll want a more sophisticated putz . Two of the right are Rogue Amoeba Software ’s Audio Hijack and Audio Hijack Pro ( $ 16 and $ 30 , severally ; www.rogueamoeba.com ) . These utilities restrict their transcription to a specific program — letting you take heed to iTunes while simultaneously register a streaming program through your RealOne audio player . If you do n’t want to listen the audio recording as you ’re recording it , you could select the Mute button without affecting the recorded speech sound . And thanks to the utilities ’ VCR - similar timers , which let you start and stop recording at predefined times , you could make certain you never again miss your favorite public lecture - wireless ranter .
Both programs let you off some of the murkiness associated with cyberspace audio , as well as make extra bass and treble adjustments as you record . Audio Hijack Pro work much further by providing a broad selection of audio - march effects . The Reverb impression , for representative , can make Howard Stern sound like he ’s in a cathedral — at least from an acoustical viewpoint .
Another interesting option for cyberspace - radio fiends is Bitcartel Software ’s MusicSafari ( $ 20 ; www.bitcartel.com ) . Although it ’s not as flexible as the Audio Hijack family — it ca n’t record from non - Internet sources such as videodisc audio recording , for example — MusicSafari does tolerate you to register more than one stream source at a time . ( You ’ll require a libertine connexion for good outcome . ) you may even employ Apple ’s iCal to schedule upcoming MusicSafari recordings . However , in my trial of its debut vent , MusicSafari show to be a piece rocky around the border , with an unintuitive user interface and eccentric functioning . Still , the programme record hope .
For the Radio Adventurer
Many Internet wireless stations stream in MP3 formatting . you’re able to tune in to thousands of such stations via the Radio button in iTunes , or via Web site such as ShoutCast ( www.shoutcast.com ) and Live365.com .
Bitcartel ’s $ 15 RadioLover specializes in recording these MP3 station . Many station send artist and call information along with their flow . Unlike other recorder , RadioLover uses this information to create disjoined song files , rather than one long file , as it records . It ’s a mythological room to discover new music .
But it ’s also imperfect : it almost always cut off the beginning or end of vocal . ( you could sometimes fix the problem by adjusting the syllabus ’s recording preference . ) You should also keep in mind that all these song will quick eat up worthful operose - drive space — a distinctive 5 - minute MP3 caterpillar track will apply around 4.5 MB .
Optimize Your Recordings
Internet audio is often hard compressed to allow streaming over slow modem connectedness . To avoid cheapen the sound quality even more , you ’ll want to encode at a comparatively high mo rate — 96 Kbps for spoken - word programming , and 128 or 160 Kbps for euphony . If you ’re recording talk radio , put your software package to enter in mono rather than in stereo .
Whenever potential , keep sound as AAC files rather than as MP3s . The AAC data formatting tend to provide better heavy quality than MP3 — a 128 Kbps AAC file often sounds as good as a 160 Kbps MP3 .
Some political platform , such as Audio Hijack Pro and MusicSafari , let you determine these setting before you bulge recording . For the programs that do n’t , you ’ll take to apply iTunes to encode the audio after you finish .
By encoding the audio as you record , you ’ll save time and habituate saucer space more efficiently . On the downside , you wo n’t be capable to try out with unlike encoding options . To get the most tractability and to fine - strain your radio set broadcast , first record sound recording in the uncompressed AIFF formatting . Then , using iTunes to encode the file , experiment with different bit rates and formats until you find the combining that sounds well to your ear .
Import into iTunes
Once you ’ve recorded some receiving set favorites , it ’s time to bring the data file into iTunes .
MP3 and AAC FilesTo add recorded MP3 or AAC file to your iTunes library , simply tangle the profound files into the iTunes windowpane . If you ’ve determine iTunes to copy files into its Music folder ( you’re able to find this option in iTunes ’ Advanced taste pane ) , you’re able to edit the original audio files .
AIFF FilesTo bring an AIFF recording to iTunes , you ’ll first require to encode it . unfold your iTunes preferences , get across on Importing , and then choose the desired fleck rate and data formatting from the pull - down menus . press OK . Next , hold down the option cay and choose Convert To MP3 ( or Convert To AAC ) from the Advanced menu . choose the audio file you need to commute , and iTunes imports it , leave the original untouched .
Trim Your Tunes
If you start out recording a bit too too soon or if your recording ran a fiddling long , you may modify the commencement and stop times within iTunes by opening the Get Info dialog box ( under the File bill of fare ) and penetrate on the Options tab . When you aline these preferences , you wo n’t actually cut off the beginning or destruction of the Song dynasty — rather , you ’re simply telling iTunes to disregard the rest of the filing cabinet . To permanently extract this space , you’re able to launch the file in Apple ’s $ 30 QuickTime Player Pro , which includes useful editing tool .
Movie Magic
Sure , we ’d like to shoot gorgeous panning scene like the Hollywood pros . But without expensive photographic camera rigs , dolly , stabilizers , and other moviemaking niceties , we ’re often leave pushing each other around in our office chairperson .
However , if you ’re handy with tools and can follow instructions , film instructor Dan Selakovich has another alternative : build up your own rigs . In his book Killer Camera Rigs That you may Build , Selakovich offers step - by - step statement and tons of useful photo for construct your own cranes , dollies , mounts , and more — all from material you may retrieve at your local hardware store . you’re able to order the book from www.dvcamerarigs.com ( $ 35 ; on CD , $ 27 ) . The WWW site also includes great examples of footage taken with different rigs , as well as book excerpts and additional resource . — kelly lunsford
Recording with Hijack
Rogue Amoeba Software ’s Audio Hijack makes it leisurely to record streaming audio . Here ’s how to schedule a new cyberspace radio receiver recording .
Step 1 : Set Up Your transcription
fall into place on the unexampled push to produce a preset for the pelt player whose audio you want to tape . you could press the Timer lozenge to specify a start or stop time . you could set Audio Hijack to bunk an AppleScript after the recording is done — to have iTunes mechanically encode the transcription in AAC or MP3 formatting , for example .
Step 2 : Begin Recording
penetrate on Audio Hijack ’s Record button . As presently as the audio begins to play , Audio Hijack will begin salt away it on your operose drive according to your options .
stride 3 : Add the File to iTunes
Once you ’re finish up enter , add the track to your iTunes depository library . ( If you set Audio Hijack to hunt either of the encoding AppleScripts after commemorate , this will fall out mechanically . ) Then locate the running in your iTunes depository library , pick out Get Info from the File menu , and use the Info tab to move into the appropriate song selective information .
