Introduction

If you're like me, you've got an iPod, a love of Public Radio, and a distaste for the idea of paying about $2 per program per episode to Audible.com for the privilege of time-shifting all the best shows that are on at times that just don't fit into your hectic schedule.

Finally, the main recording script is intended to be understandable and easy to extend, so you can add your own favorite NPR stations and/or suggest them to me for inclusion in the scripts.

Requirements baby, you've got what I need...

First and foremost, these instructions assume a fair amount of comfort inside the MacOS. I've tried to make everything clear, concise, and simple, but you're going to need at least a passing familiarity with Terminal.app and some comfort with common Unix utilities.

In addition to your sense of adventure and a positive attitude, please remember to pack the following:

• Mac OS X (10.1 and above is probably sufficient, but I've only tested on 10.2.8 and above.)
• AppleScript (probably installed with OS X).
• iTunes (if you don't have iTunes, what kind of Mac user are you?)
• CronniX (nice GUI for cron, unless you like configuring it by hand)
• About 100 MB of free space on the same partition as your home directory. This will vary greatly depending on the length & bitrates of the programs you're recording.

Features & Limitations every rose has its thorn...

The Good

• Records directly to MP3 format.
• Automatically imports recordings into iTunes Library and tags them reasonably (program, station, date).
• Records silently, rather than playing through speakers.
• Once configured, runs entirely without user intervention.
• Constructed entirely from free software (some as in beer, some as in speech)

The Bad

• Only records ShoutCast/WinAmp streams. Most NPR streams are Windows Media or RealPlayer now. Sorry.
• Does not always recover well from dropped packets. This appears to be a limitation of streamripper, so there's nothing I can do about it. Some streams perform very well, while others are less reliable.
• Only records silently -- cannot listen to a stream while recording.
• Is slightly obtrusive (it opens a Terminal window and manipulates iTunes windows).
• Does not play well with fast user switching. I haven't actually tested how badly this will go, but I know that the iTunes import script will choke if a user other than the current one already has iTunes running. NOTE: I've taken a bit of a look at this now, and I'm going to rewrite a significant bit of the script to play nicer. No ETA on this, but it's definitely something I want to do (7 Dec 03).
• Does not automatically delete old recordings. This is more a limitation of iTunes's AppleScript support, as far as I know.