StationRipper

Infobox Software
name = StationRipper



caption = Free version of StationRipper running against two stations
developer = Ratajik Software
released = 12/13/2003
frequently_updated = yes
programming language = ?
operating system = Windows
language = Multilingual
genre = Radio music ripping
license = Proprietary and freeware
website = http://www.stationripper.com

StationRipper is a commercial Microsoft Windows frontend developed by Ratajik Software for Streamripper, a free Open Source GPL streaming engine that records ("rips") Internet audio streams on Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, BeOS, OS/2 (amongst others). The StationRipper software was first released on December 13th, 2003. It can record to MP3 or Vorbis formats.

It can record Shoutcast streams, Last.fm stations, and Podcasts. Besides the charged versions of the software ('Standard' and 'Gold'), there is also a free version with reduced functionality.

Using information brought down in the various streams, it is able to split each song up by Band and Song name into an individual file. The resulting files have the correct ID3v1 and ID3v2.4 tags set, and are unhindered. It can also download the songs album art, saving to a separate file or embedded in the MP3

Integration into iTunes is built in - songs recorded can automatically be placed on a iTunes playlist, which in turn can be automatically synchronized to a iPod (iTunes radio stations can also be recorded). The software also supports integration with MediaMonkey, MSN Messenger, and Twitter

StationRipper is available in a free version as well as a paid version ("Silver" and "Gold" licenses). It uses the Microsoft Access format for its library. The software embeds Microsoft Internet Explorer in the main window. The user interacts with various web pages, and the software captures certain actions, tells the browser to ignore the action, and then acts on it itself (e.g., clicking a record button that is a URL to a station on a web page starts recording, instead of playing the stream in the browser).

Overview

Major features of Stationripper are:
*Ripping shoutcast audio and video streams
*Recording Last.fm stations
*Downloading podcasts
*Synchronizing the recorded files to iTunes and MediaMonkey
*Search for songs that have played, via StationPortal.com
*View songs that are currently playing via StationPortal.com
*Album art download
*Commercials deleted (ignore files under a certain size)
*Tracking of stations recorded and songs that have been recorded
*Auto-skip of songs that have already been recorded
*Tracking Naming with Band and Song name, along with ID3v1 and ID3v2.4 tags

tationPortal.com

As of version 2.80A, the software uses [http://www.stationportal.com StationPortal] as the page that comes up inside of the software. This page allows users to search for songs and bands, by station (against what has been played by each station in the past), and has pages that allow the user to view what is currently playing, both in a static page, a AJAX page, and Google Maps Mashup

External links

* [http://www.stationripper.com StationRipper Homepage]
* [http://www.stationportal.com StationPortal]
* [http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2004/11/01/free_for_the_listening____and_legal?pg=full Boston Globe article about ripping and StationRipper]
*Several p2pnet.net stories about StationRipper [http://p2pnet.net/story/1270 1] [http://p2pnet.net/story/4533 2] [http://www.p2pnet.net/story/8268 3] [http://www.p2pnet.net/story/12840 4]
* [http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2004-09-01-digitial-radio-piracy_x.htm USA Today article on digital music and StationRipper]
* [http://slashdot.org/yro/04/04/21/2134207.shtml?tid=126&tid=141&tid=158&tid=188&tid=95&tid=99 Slashdot article on Stream ripping, its legality, and StationRipper]