Radio Music Ripping - Internet Radio

Internet Radio

Popular audio formats for internet radio include AAC, AAC+, and MP3. Many AM/FM stations simulcast online use the more efficient AAC format while internet only stations more typically use MP3. The Shoutcast database featured 34,281 online radio stations covering almost every conceivable music genre.

Cloud recording services such as DAR.fm can record from all of these formats. Most PC based internet radio ripping software is built for Shoutcast-style of streams as this MP3 based protocol offers the widest selection of internet radio stations. Such wide selection of music is one of the major advantages for recording songs from internet radio compared to FM and satellite radio as well as the fact that it works with cloud services that do not require a separate audio receiver. The disadvantages may include fairly low audio quality in the saved mp3s, which varies from stream to stream.

To begin the recording process, the software connects to the audio stream over TCP. The stream is then buffered 15–30 seconds ahead. Some internet radio ripping software, utilize special metadata that is being broadcast along with actual song content. These programs are generally more successful in determining the boundaries of songs (providing for a cleaner mp3 cut) as well as correctly identifying the song in question. Such metadata, however, is available for only a subset of internet radio stations, commonly associated with the Shoutcast standard. The existence of open directories of Shoutcast-compliant radio stations such as Shoutcast enables internet radio rippers to provide an abundant selection of recordable radio stations that are reasonably expected to emit detailed song metadata. The metadata also helps avoiding commercials from being recorded along with the songs.