RAM>MP3 on a timer

[vivitron 15]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/realaudio/media/r1live.ram

Right,

Im looking for an app which will allow me to save the above streaming audio to an mp3 file.

If anyone has an app which will allow me to set timers on the record and even to split the recordings up into smaller tracks, that would also be cool.

I'd prefer it free (though i can always get around that!) and i hate bloated apps, so something nice and small would be great!

TIA

[Vargas]

winamp can do that... (if it doesn't hang)

plugin to play file or playlist at a preset time:
http://www.winamp.com/plugins/details.php?id=138685

tara real media input plugin:
http://www.musiclivesonline.com/software/watara.html

Nullsoft MP3 Output Plug-in 1.1 for Winamp:
http://www.winamp.com/plugins/details.php?id=177

Kill Winamp can close Winamp after a certain configured number of minutes
http://destruction.nu/kw.html

[vivitron 15]

wow cool, thanks...maybe i will ditch qcd after all...

i did find Real7ime converter, which needed real alternative (couldnt bring myself to use the other one), but it seems to store the whole job lot in memory, then convert - no good for a 4hour show!

im gonna try this right now - will update with what i find

thanks a lot

[Vargas]

the tara plugin needs real codec installed too, either real-alt, or at least G2 player.
personally i have real player 8 installed myself, tweaked to not phone home, or take file associations. and use winamp for playing/converting real content

EDIT: BTW to use that timer for winamp you need to use a m3u playlist with your radio1 url, or the ram file in the playlist file.

[vivitron 15]

Thanks to your advice here (and a couple of pms) i kind of have it setup...

the tara plugin needs G2 player, for which there is a link on the main page. it doesnt work with real alt (well it didnt for me), but you can uncheck all the options for the program phoning home/file associations etc.

Then you can quite nicely listen to "ram" through winamp. The little "autostart" app works nicely too.

The only thing that i cant seem to get to work too well is the mp3output plugin. With the most recent winamp, there is already a plugin present, so it isnt necesary to have an extra one - and in fact, i get more success from the builtin one.

the problem i have is that it records ok for a little while,and then i get "Network congestion" buffering, and finally, after a few buffers (overnight) winamp hangs, and i have to force it to close...i do though get output, which works fine, up to a few hundred meg. i intend to play with this somemore - maybe increase the winamp thread priority...

Thanks Vargas - will keep you posted how im getting on with it!

[vivitron 15]

hmm, right, from what ive seen i think its too much to ask the app to convert on the fly, so i may have to look into options of ripping, and then encoding seperately -though i dont really want to have to

[Vargas]

you might try playing with (increasing) real's buffer and network timeout settings, if you didn't already.

you will see "network congestion" every time it buffers (it's normal)
as long as the "time played" keeps going up you know it's recording, but it goes in spurts ie: cycles through "buffering, converting, writing to disk" when it's working so thats why you see "network congestion" when it's working :p