Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with audio and internet

Turn up the radio

CodeMonkey — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:25:24 -0800

What is the best software for recording streaming AM radio stations? There are late night shows on, some that have podcasts but some that don't. I want to 'set it and forget it' and have the results in an mp3 format.

Need some sound effects to simulate an abandoned oil tanker.

mattholomew — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:05:33 -0800

Need some sound effects to simulate an abandoned oil tanker. For comedy purposes, I am recording a monologue that I want to sound as if it is being recorded from an abandoned oil tanker on the ocean. Looking for some preferably free sound effects such as waves lapping, seagulls, giant metal structures creaking and groaning. I need things that can be downloaded from the internet, so no movies/CDs that need to be tracked down please.

Your help is much appreciated!

Audio from the Internet to Burnable MP3?

snap_dragon — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 07:47:59 -0800

Is there any free software to capture audio broadcasts from the internet? I am a novice. I am not sure how to go about it. There are a few sites that will play through real audio but i would like to capture a file in a format such as mp3 to my desktop that I can burn to disc to listen in my car. Sorry for the lack of technical terms. I am new to trying to do this and am not sure where to look or how to do it. I run an IMac with OS 10.5.2...Thanks for your time!

Why can't I listen to conference calls on Yahoo Finance? (using Mac Safari/Firefox)

b_thinky — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:44:41 -0800

Why can't I listen to conference calls on Yahoo Finance? (using Mac Safari/Firefox) Here is a link of all the day's conference calls. When I click to listen to the audio, my browser goes to a new page and attempts to load the media. Media plays, but all I hear is some light static for a couple seconds, followed by a click - then it goes dead.

This happens in all the calls I try to listen to, whether using Safari or Firefox. Also I tried AOL finance and can't listen there either. I tried upgrading Windows Media player but still no luck. I cannot download the file - only streaming is available.

Can someone suggest a solution?

Why does Skype not want to take calls?

arniec — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:15:11 -0800

Important Skype Issue! I primarily use Skype for voicemails, however I am getting lots of complaints that Skype's line is busy. Every time I open Skype the preferences are set to only allow calls from people in my contact list. I keep setting them to allow calls from anyone and they keep going back to only accepting calls from people in my contacts list. Sometimes these settings reset while Skype is still open. I have not yet been able to determine a pattern. I know that every time I open Skype it's set to only take calls from people on my contact list, and I think that when I make calls it resets as well.

I have contacted Skype's technical support 10 days ago and they have not responded at all... I've Googled to no avail. This is extremely frustrating as I am a recent convert to Mac and I took Skype with me, but I never had these problems on my PC.

I do have Ecamm's Call Recorder for Skype installed, but I can't find any reason why it would be changing my settings.

Help! Please!

Odeo alternatives?

lometogo — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 07:16:00 -0800

Know any good alternatives to Odeo? I love the simplicity of Odeo and use it to email audio instructions. However, Odeo seems overloaded and it can take days to upload recordings. Who else has entered this space and is servicing it better than Odeo?

Internet jam session?

Infernarl — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 03:17:01 -0800

Low latency, medium fidelity, jam sessions on the internet. NINJAM is too buggy :( I want to "jam" live with people on the other side of the world over the internet. What is the simplest, best, solution for sending audio of an acceptable fidelity for recording across the internet? I want a piece of software that does one thing and one thing well. PC, Mac, and Linux compatibility would be a big plus but I am mostly concerned about OS X. NINJAM is great for fidelity and K.i.S.S. but I've had many sessions ruined by its buggyness, or being kicked from the server and it hasn't been update since 2005. what is the state of the art?

What's cool to do in a house wired with RG-6 and Cat6?

Dave 9 — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 10:49:09 -0800

Home networking wizards: What cool stuff can be done when a house is wired with RG-6 and Cat6? Not just vanilla internet and file sharing. What wired activities and equipment do you love or covet? Living room and two bedrooms are already connected to ordinary cable TV, but the study is not. The living room CATV cable has a splitter > internet cable modem > wireless-capable router.

In addition, the bedrooms and the study each have one RG-6 and two Cat6 cables running from the living room. These are not yet connected to anything. (Should there have been a second RG-6 for each room?)

What cool things can be done with this? It's not my money. It’s my brother’s house. What equipment should I persuade him to buy?

Hot to get internet digital radio via non-computer routes?

mywinningsmile — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 11:46:26 -0800

Hi all, longtime lurker, first-time poster. I’m keen to sort out our home with digital radio access, but some seemingly incompatible demands have got me stuck. 1. Local digital radio options aren’t doing it for me. I get the BBC (I live in England) but beyond that, not a lot. I want to be able to use it to listen to foreign language stations (specifically Swedish, for developing my proficiency) and as a bonus, explore some of the esoteric stations smooshed across the internet.
2. Going through my computer isn’t really doing it for us. Main reason is that I’m wanting to listen to the radio in short bursts, like at breakfast or doing the ironing, and constantly starting up/shutting down a computer, getting online + selecting a station etc is tiresome. Plus, it feels pretty energy inefficient, and the laptop itself is pretty noisy + whirry.

I’m looking for a 3rd way. Are there devices out there that can access internet radio via the internet, that are relatively inexpensive (say, under $300)? Or some other sneaky solutions to what I’m after? Any advice greatly appreciated.

What should I listen to?

serazin — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 10:48:31 -0800

I spend most of my work day listening to interview and essay type radio shows on the internet. My favorite, of course, is This American Life. I also love Fresh Air . I've checked out Radio 4 a little, and sometimes I listen to Democracy Now and even more rarely Air America. Keeping in mind what I already like, what else would you recommend I listen to? (It's probably obvious that I have lefty politics and I love moving or creative storytelling. I hate call in shows)

Also, any specific show recommendations on the BBC or Air America are welcome.

Downloading streaming audio

schoenbc — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 18:45:49 -0800

How can I down load music, specifically streaming audio, from the Internet? Are there are programs that can capture the audio and save it directly to your computer in a common format, that is, anything that I can later burn into a CD?

What equipment do I need for portable podcasting?

bjennings — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 13:53:20 -0800

I'm looking for an inexpensive set-up to allow me to do portable podcasting. Is there a good combination of MP3 player and microphone that can be had for less than, say, $350 that would still result in decent audio quality? Also, will I need to get a mixer, or can I edit the audio on my laptop later?

Which laptop is the best for multi-track audio editing?

punkbitch — Sun, 13 Feb 2005 13:00:10 -0800

Laptops (again). I want to buy one. Specifically, I want to know which laptop is the best for multi-track audio editing (and why). Aditionally, which software should I use if I want to create stories "pro" enough for radio journalism? Do I have to get pricey studio stuff? Finally, when people out there submit already-produced audio stories to say BBC, NPR, PRI, Pacifica . . . is there a simple way to send the files via email? What kind of file would it have to be?

Streaming Japanese Radio

tirade — Sun, 05 Dec 2004 20:31:24 -0800

I'm looking for streaming Japanese-language talk or news radio. Specifically, I'm looking for a live feed rather than short clips (the latter of which I seem to find tons of), and preferably low-bandwidth audio-only rather than video. I don't read Japanese, so searching is difficult.

New media help: podcast vs mp3 blog

Tlogmer — Mon, 25 Oct 2004 18:32:07 -0800

What's the difference between podcasting and mp3blogging?

What's the best software for streaming live radio on the internet?

darainwa — Sun, 22 Aug 2004 19:30:24 -0800

What is the best software for a radio station to use when streaming live audio via the internet? Similarly, what piece of software do most individuals use to listen to webcasts? [MI] Background: After receiving some negative feedback about RealAudio/RealPlayer, the radio station I am currently affiliated with has been discussing a move from our current Real-based setup to some other format. While I am not a fan of Real myself, I was under the impression that a majority of people used RealPlayer to stream audio over the internet.

Personally, I would like to go with whatever software will allow the largest number of users to listen to our stream. Further, our RealAudio setup costs us nothing to maintain, as our bandwidth, the RealAudio encoding software, and support of the computer doing the RealAudio encoding is provided to the station free of charge. Being a non-commercial station (read: quite poor) any alternative to Real would need to be inexpensive, and rather low maintenance.

That said, is there another (low cost) encoding format that would allow a greater number of listeners to hear our broadcast via the internet?