Best Free Streaming Media Recorder
Sick of just watching streamed videos and audio tracks but not being able to save them? So are many others, and this demand has given rise to nearly a dozen utilities that will record them to your PC.
While it is possible to record streaming media, you need to be very aware that a lot of streamed content is copyright and that recording such content may violate the copyright laws of your country.
So in advising you about products that record streaming media I am assuming you only want to record non-copyright material. Right?
The bad news is that the best recording utilities in this category are shareware not freeware. That's because the websites of most of the better free programs like StreamBox VCR and GetASFStream have been chased off the web by copyright owners and their lawyers. You can still occassionally locate these on some obscure download sites but none of these are stable enough to warrant listing here.
A better option for most users is to use a free web service to record the streaming media, and, if that fails, simply record the streaming media while it is playing on your PC.
Unfortunately, this simple approach will not work for many streams. In this situation I suggest you simply play the media stream on your PC and record what's happening on the screen and coming out your speakers.
Sure, there is some quality loss, but the great advantage of this approach is that it completely bypasses the whole question of DRM protection; if you can play it on your PC then you can record it from your PC. And you can record it in a form that is free of any protection and can therefore be replayed through any device that supports the appropriate file format.
For video streams there are several free session recorders that will do the recording job. You can find a good list of candidates on this site here. These products are really designed for preparing on-screen tutorials and similar tasks, but several are capable of recording video replays.
Krut in particular works well, though it can only output files in .MOV and .WAV formats. However, the output files can readily be converted to other formats using free conversion sites like ZamZar and YouConvertIt
My personal freeware favorite for on-screen capture is CamStudio V2, because the output is in the more widely used .AVI and .FLV formats. It too has issues with video and sound cards, so you had better read the Krut tutorial for guidance on this issue. The same solutions suggested for Krut are also applicable to CamStudio.
Just as you can record streaming videos playing on your PC, you can also record audio streams playing through your PC speakers. In fact, there are a number of free programs designed specifically for this task. My favorite is MP3myMP3 which records directly from your sound card output. A slightly more complex alternative is to use the record option which is available in the Audacity Audio Editor, but this is probably overkill for average users who would be best off with the simplicity of MP3myMP3.
All these solution bypass the format problems and DRM protection issues. They don't, however, bypass the legal issues. I'm not going to preach to you on this matter; instead I trust in your good judgment.
Website: http://sourceforge.net/projects/krut
Download page: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=129468
Author: Jonas Ostby
Current version: 0.9.2
Version date: 17-JAN-2007
License: Freeware - GPL
Download File size: 4.80 MB
Operating Systems Supported: Windows & Linux & Mac
Additional Software Required: Java Runtime Engine – www.java.com
64 bit version available: Untested
Portable version available: No
Non-English languages supported: Unknown
Website: http://www.camstudio.org
Download page: http://www.camstudio.org/CamStudio20.exe
Author: Unknown
Current version: 2.0
Version date: 2007
License: Freeware – GPL Open Source
Download File size: 1.33MB
Operating Systems Supported: Windows 98 - XP
64 bit version available:: Untested
Portable aersion available: No
Non-English languages supported: Yes, but not fully functional yet
Other relevant information: Vista workaround listed on support forums
Download Link: http://www.mp3mymp3.com/
Author: Digital Liquid
Current Version: 2
Version Date: 04/23/2005
License: Unrestricted freeware
Download File Size: 5.8 MB
Operating Systems Supported: All Windows, Vista untested.
Additional Software Required: None
64 Bit Capable: No
Portable Version Available: No
Non-English Languages Supported: None
Other Relevant Information:
Website: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Download Link: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/
Author: The Audacity Team
Current Version: 2
Version Date: 04/23/2005
License: Unrestricted freeware
Download File Size: 2.1 MB
Operating Systems Supported: All Windows, Vista untested.
Additional Software Required: None
64 Bit Capable: No
Portable Version Available: No
Non-English Languages Supported: None
Other Relevant Information:
- Plug-Ins for LADSPA, NyQuist, and VST: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/plugins
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No tools required to install use Opera -
To save most youtube and other videos or mp3 streams, use opera browser. Watch /listen to end. Do not close browser, go to cache folder, find the latest file with the extension flv/mp3 and copy it. Remember do not close browser otherwise cache will get cleared.
A very good streaming media recorder for audio streams is Screamer Radio available at http://www.screamer-radio.com/
It has a built-in database of presets; I found all of my preferred internet radio stations on it; this list is updatable; can save favourites; it adds tags and splits files if the station broadcasts info; it is extremely light-weight; has a no-frills no-nonsense interface;
Of course, if you want to record MP3 streams, StreamRipper (Winamp plugin), available at http://streamripper.sourceforge.net/, has been around for a very long time and has good features.
Regards.
Flash Video Downloader - YouTube
This is the easiest FREE download manager for grabbing and downloading video files from YouTube. You simply browse YouTube using the built-in web browser, and click the download button when you want to save a video to your computer. The software will instantly download the video as FLV file. It supports simultaneous downloads of multiple videos, so you do not need to wait for a download to finish before you can start another one.
You can get it here:
http://www.download.com/Flash-Video-Downloader-YouTube/3000-2071_4-10823...
Check this one: WebVideoCap - http://nirsoft.net/utils/web_video_capture.html
See the developer's description:
"While watching a video in a Web site, you may sometimes want to save the video into your local drive, and then play it offline later. This utility allows you to capture .flv (Flash Video) files and RTSP/MMS video streams while the Web browser download and play them inside a Web page. After the entire video file is downloaded and played by the Web browser, the video file is saved in the folder that you selected, and you can play it offline later with any Video player.
WebVideoCap can capture the video files of most popular video-sharing sites, including YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo Video, iFilm, Metacafe, Putfile, and more... "
I've been using it succesfully and I also recommend several other free small utilities provided in the developer's site: http://nirsoft.net
You really got to see it.
Have just tried Ant Toolbar from ant.com and found it to be excellent for downloading flash. Very simple and easy to use, it is also a .afv player. Supports both IE7 and Firefox.
You should check out JING from techmedia. http://www.jingproject.com/
Simple and easily shared over http.
Another good way of recording AUDIO streams is to use KMPlayer―an excellent, lightweight WMP replacement.
KMP lets you record many types of audio, including Real Media.
(Right click, then "Capture" -> "Audio:Capture")
Download link: http://www.kmplayer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4094
Good suggestion Bob
downloadhelper, an extension for firefox lets you right click anywhere on the screen and click the file to download, unfortunately, it doesn't do any file conversion, but it's easy to use, and gets every file, mp3, jpg, jpeg, mp4, flv, mpeg, mpg, avi...etc.
I would also like to recommend Net Transport v1.90 and FlashGet v1.9.6.
Make sure that your firewall or similar-type programs, e.g. PeerGuardian, are not blocking the downloaders!
I agree about NetTransport - its great for RealMedia (incl BBC radio) and does multi-thread download, getting the broadcast in many parts at the same time then reassembling them - so it is fast.
NetTransport is NOT FREE
This bookmarklet is also useful for getting higher quality MP4 (as opposed to FLV) files out of YouTube:
javascript:if%20(document.getElementById('download-youtube-video')==null%20&&%20!!(document.location.href.match(/http:\/\/[a-zA-Z\.]*youtube\.com\/watch/)))%20{var%20yt_mp4_path='http://www.youtube.com/get_video?fmt=18&video_id='+swfArgs['video_id']+'&t='+swfArgs['t'];%20var%20div_embed=document.getElementById('watch-embed-div');div_embed.innerHTML=div_embed.innerHTML+'
%20Download%20as%20MP4%20(right-click%20and%20select%20Save%20'+%20(navigator.appName=='Microsoft%20Internet%20Explorer'?'target':'link')%20+'%20as)';}void(0);
A new link should appear on the page, drag or download that, then rename.
This page should be linked with the Best Free Download Manager page since they are related, and a good Streaming Media Recorder will also be a good Download Manager. The best of both that I've found is an old freeware copy of Net Transport. It handles MMS, RTSP, HTTP, FTP, etc. and is great as both a download manager and a streaming media recorder. Technically the last freeware version is 1.87, and the first shareware version is 1.90, but I've found v1.90 to function completely as freeware - that is no nags, crippled features, etc. Version 1.91, on the other hand, has nags (and so would anything later). You can download both v1.87 and v1.90 from OldVersion.com.
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Yours Truly,
Paul R.
Paul while there is some overlap in function between streaming media recorders and download managers they are quite different product classes.
I'm sure I'm missing something, but I thought that if you played a video or steaming media, it's temporarily saved to the browser cache. Thus instead of programs to re-record wouldn't they just allow you to copy or rename or convert to different types. Also I tried zamzar - and there's a bunch of options and types - is there an explanation of the best, simplest type etc. TIA
Streaming media from protocols like mms:// or rtsp:// cannot be saved in the browser's cache so specialized tools are needed for that job. There's a really great .pdf explaining the way download managers work or more specificly how they should compared to the ovewhelming amount of features in DownloadStudio (a product of the company who made this guide). It can be found here:
http://www.conceiva.com/products/downloadstudio/WhitePaper-DownloadManag...
(Conceiva are the makers of DownloadStudio. Unfortunately DownloadStudio is not free otherwise it's a great download manager that can handle even sreaming media recording.
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