How can I save a RealAudio stream?
 

I'd like to save an audio stream designed to be played by RealAudio. Is there some way to do this?

I'd like to be able to save what's being streamed to RelaAudio in some format, ideally as an MP3, so I could then transfer it to my iPod to play later.

Anyone know how to do this?

Re: How can I save a RealAudio stream?
 

I don't think you can do it unless the file is set up so as not to stream. You can try in IE preferences/Helper Applications to set it to Save to File, but I'm doubtful about that working. Worth a try, so let us know how it goes.

In OS 9, you could use Real Player Pro sometimes to save a streaming file to disk. There's no such animal for OS X yet, however.

If it's not a live stream, i.e. if it's a stream of a file that exists on a server somewhere, try this:

Open the .ram (or whatever) file in TextEdit. It's possible that there will be the URL to the actual file being streamed.

Let us know.

David

Can't just download the file
 

I don't think you can simply download the file. I tried, with curl, but it can't handle the URL type (RTSP) and if you try HTTP you just get "no such file".

There actually was a 'hint' somwehere about downloading as inteh process above. Unfortunately I can not find it ANYWHERE!

you mean this article?.

My first instinct was to have a go with curl, but this hint suggests that curl just results in the opening of the mime type handler (ie RealPlayer).

The problem I think is that the "file" you download isn't actually the stream - it's just a pointer to the stream. It SHOULD be possible to record this (I mean, it's data on your computer right? You should be able to intercept it and redirect it into a file, esp. with our nice Unixy backend), but that doesn't mean it'll be easy - I think it would involve figuring out exactly what the file you download does. My guess is that it's a bit like a saved IE shortcut file on your desktop - it doesn't store the page it links to, just the link TO the page. If you can dig inside a *.ram file, you might be able to figure out the REAL URL of the stream.

Just the 2pworth.

<offtopic distance="not far">
BTW, exactly how crap is the realmedia format? Watching the news, it looks like it's always a foggy day. Bring back QuickTime to the BBC (or even better, MPEG-4!)
;)
</offtopic>

hmm - drag and drop my BBC News shortcut into BBEdit...

I copy&paste this into my browser window, and it fires up QuickTime! Wtf?

However, QuickTime doesn't like it, and just sits there "Connecting" to nothing - been going for five minutes now.

I tried getting this stream via curl, but curl doesn't support this "rtsp" protocol. Any ideas?

Okay, perhaps I should have been more clear. You've found the link. Now, download it (http) in a web browser:

http://rmlivev7.bbc.net.uk/farm/*/ev...24/news/n24.rm

Okay, I see what you're saying--that results in a "Not Found".

However, it has to exist since opening the location rtsp://rmlivev7.bbc.net.uk/farm/*/ev7/live24/news/n24.rm results in a stream.

It may simply be that they don't want you to download that file.

I don't know what to do at this point.

David

The only way to save audio streams from realplayer is to run a stereo plug from your headphones back into your mike input (if you don't have an input, you'll need to get a USB mike input), then record the stream in one of the many audio recorders available to OS X (e.g., audacity, cd spin doctor, etc.). I use to do this with my iMac 333 MhZ quite often and it works very well.

That's simply not true. See the process I describe above. I don't know why it's not working now, and you may be right in this instance, but many times it's as simple as copy and paste to download the file being streamed.

David

You're confusing the idea of protocol.

won't work cos it doesn't exist, in the same way that you can't log in to an FTP server by typing in http://ftp.server.com/file.sit, even though ftp://ftp.server.com/file.sit exists...

Anyway, what this boils down to is to figure out how to read files over the rtsp protocol - we need something that will just read the data bit-by-bit over this protocol and dump it into a file (I suspect).

As I stated, if it's in your machine, it's readable. It just might not be easy :)

Yes, you can just "tape" the stream via audio in/out, but that's not the point - for example, it doesn't solve how to record video. I know that wasn't the original point of the post, but I prefer to solve the general problem - I'm masochistic like that ;)

Sounds like downloading to me.

How about this: find out what port rtsp uses. Telnet to the server on that port, then navigate your way to the file. In order to figure out the command protocol, use a program like tcpflow to monitor what's sent when you're legitimately accessing an rtsp file (i.e. in RealPlayer).

Heh.

David

I know for windows users there are programmes that download streaming audio - such as streambox

However i am yet to find some mac compatible software

I think that Audio Hijack ought to do that. Seach for it at MacUpdate or VersionTracker.

My wife is into studying languages and she recently got a CD with Latin instruction on it. There are about 35 hours worth of audio on it in RealAudio format and we wanted to convert it into mp3's so that we could burn it to a CD and listen to it in the car. Audio Hijack quits the application and starts it back up and then records whatever it is playing...it does not matter if it is streaming from the web or playing from resident files as it was in our case. It is $16 shareware but you can record 10 minutes clearly before it starts recording distortion (to remind you to pay the shareware fee). It works nicely.

I've done the s/rtsp/http/ thing more than once, and it's worked every time with curl. Maybe it's the server configuration that's different than normal?

Also, if it is just audio WireTap from Ambrosia software is a free utility to record all sound going through the soundcard. It's nifty.

I believe this hint is what you want.

Well, that's right. It will capture any sound played on your computer. So will Wiretap , which is free! The file is saved as .aif, which iTunes and other software can convert to mp3. This should respond to the question asked in the opening post.

I didn't know that.
 

Thanks for the referral to WireTap. I didn't know about that.

Audio Hijack is the Solution
 

I've never tried WireTap, but I just returned from MacWorld and bought a copy of Audio Hijack (available at www.rogueamoeba.com)... WOW WOW WOW! I can finally capture streaming audio.

One more thing... you can set up a timer to have it record streams (even repeating weekly or daily), so you can essentially "TIVO" radio broadcasts (as long as they are streamed).

Also, if you purchase a RadioShark from Griffin Tech., you can feed AM and FM radio from the airwaves into your Mac via USB, and capture it via Audio Hijack, too.

Good luck!

I checked out Wiretap briefly, but elected to continue with the Audio Hijack (which I already bought a license to) because

1) It wants to install a kext file in /System/Library/Extenstions
2) It will also record system beeps, etc.

Right, macmath, but . . . free! :)

If one is doing a lot of audio capturing, then the more fully-featured Audio Hijack is the way to go. But for just an occasional capture, Wiretap is fine. I've had no instability issues with it so far.