Recording sounds played through the speaker in OS X

June 20, 2005 12:12 AM

I'm wondering what applications (preferably free) I would use in OS X 10.4 if I want to grab and record audio on its way to my computer's speakers. A band I like has part of a song available through a flash player on their site, but I don't want to have to be online to hear it all the time. I tried playing it through the speakers and recording that, but the quality was terrible -- is there a way to record the sound directly?
posted by teem to Technology (8 answers total)

Best answer: Wiretap
Audio Hijack
posted by nathan_teske at 12:29 AM on June 20, 2005

Soundflower (free) + any sound recording software (Audacity (free), Sound Studio, SPARK, etc.)
posted by Rothko at 1:38 AM on June 20, 2005

Second, Hijack. Works fine for me on 10.3.
posted by veedubya at 3:17 AM on June 20, 2005

I use WireTap, it's pretty good
posted by matteo at 5:50 AM on June 20, 2005

I actually bought the pro version of Wiretap, and have no regrets.
posted by craniac at 6:35 AM on June 20, 2005

I use Hijack as well, and the pro version is well worth the price.
posted by Rothko at 6:41 AM on June 20, 2005

Just want to fourth the recommendation for Hijack. It's easy and excellent.
posted by jdl at 11:12 AM on June 20, 2005

Audio Hijack is excellent and will only capture audio from a user-chosen application (unlike Wiretap which captures everything regardless of source). So, for example, if you're capturing audio from a website and you get new mail or some other program beeps, it won't capture those extra sounds. It's got a ton of handy features, but is still very easy to use.
posted by pmbuko at 12:47 PM on June 20, 2005