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Record radio station mp3/m3u stream via VLC UI (answered!)

Posted: 25 Jun 2010 01:25
by rjamesd
These instructions show how to capture/record directly from a MP3/M3U stream of a radio station, using VLC player, configuring/setting up VLC via its graphical user interface (GUI) - no need to learn the command line options! Using Windows version of VLC but instructions should be usable for other platforms.

Please discuss if necessary and contribute. These are working instructions.

Please abide by copyright rules in your locale. The safest option is to record for your own personal use.

The reason why I am posting this is to give people the opportunity to record programmes for listening at a time that suits them as many stations, particularly smaller, community based ones are not well set up for podcasts/listen anytime/listen again. The intention is that you would discard the recording after use if you wish, to avoid any copyright issues. This is a benevolent endeavour aimed at increasing a station's audience by allowing timeshifting of programmes to suit listeners personal schedules.

Find the website of your favourite radio station, e.g. resonancefm.com. If it uses a .m3u playlist file for streaming, locate the page that holds this within the site. You need the .mp3 file stream url that the .m3u contains. So, first save the .m3u file

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Open the file in your text editor

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Copy the .mp3 stream URL

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Run VLC player. Select open network stream.

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Paste in the copied URL from earlier.

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Click the thin button with the 'o' symbol at the bottom, and from the drop-down menu, select 'Stream'

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Click 'Destinations'

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Activate transcoding should be unchecked - we don't need to re-encode the mp3 stream. For 'new destinaton' select file, click Add and choose a path and filename for the recording.
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Click stream button on bottom right to start the streaming to the file.
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Re: Record radio station mp3/m3u stream via VLC UI (answered

Posted: 04 Nov 2010 03:31
by filodre
Hi, what if the actual streaming isn't an MP3 though but instead a playlist?

I am trying to record stream from this site www.breakz.us, and their .m3u playlist file is:
http://breakz.us/radio/listen.m3u

Whenever I open this .m3u file in notepad, it comes up with

"#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1,www.BreakZ.us | Radio | We Love Music | Hip-Hop | RnB | Remix | Breaks | House | Mixtapes | Black vs House
http://stream.breakz.us:8100"

I tried your method but it didn't seem to work :(

Re: Record radio station mp3/m3u stream via VLC UI (answered

Posted: 30 Nov 2010 13:39
by rjamesd
I tried your method but it didn't seem to work :(


In the step where I said paste in the mp3 url, did you paste: http://stream.breakz.us:8100
Perhaps it will work with this URL as perhaps the URL does not have to end with mp3.

Another option: create a webpage file:

test.html:

<html>
<body>
<a href="http://stream.breakz.us:8100">link</a>
</body>
</html>

Save this file locally on your machine, then open in it your browser.
You should see the work "link" (usually underlined, too), move your mouse over this, right click and "Save as" - what is saved - an mp3 file? If so then that url is a mp3 stream but without the .mp3 at the end. This is possible owing to how the (Apache?) server they run is set up - the index file for this URL would be a .mp3 instead of index.html - just some random thoughts that might give you a clue.

Otherwise try this alternative:

(Replace the URL with: http://stream.breakz.us:8100 )


Credit: Kev Swindells from mediauk.com forum "(Answered) How to record mp3 internet radio using vlc player":

Slightly easier way of doing it in VLC

Open VLC
Media
Convert/Save
Network - http://icecast.commedia.org.uk:8000/prestonfm.mp3
Convert/Save
Choose your destination file
Dump Raw Input
Start

Wait about 10 seconds, right click on the MP3, Open With, VLC Media Player

Saves the need for two streams (saving the stations bandwidth costs) and also allows you to check the recording is okay - okay so you have a 10 second delay but that might be okay.


Arrradio on Android allows you to record any station in Shoutcast - but no timer.

Re: Record radio station mp3/m3u stream via VLC UI (answered

Posted: 22 Oct 2013 21:17
by woooei
Hello,

I followed the steps you described above. But is it possible to set a start -& -end -time for the stream? To record just a part of the stream?

Thanks in advance!

Re: Record radio station mp3/m3u stream via VLC UI (answered

Posted: 05 Nov 2013 23:04
by Jean-Baptiste Kempf
It is possible.