How To Record iTunes Radio

Ghacks reader Mitch send me an email today asking for a free solution to record iTunes radio stations. Apple's iTunes software does not only offer music management features and an online shop for purchasing music and videos but also the means to listen to Internet radio and podcasts. We all know that Internet radio is streamed to the listeners and one of the best programs to rip Internet radio streams is Streamripper. Streamripper on the other hand has been designed mainly with Winamp and Shoutcast radio stations in mind.

An easier solution to record iTunes radio is the Streamripper based radio recorder Stationripper. Stationripper comes with many additional features including support to record various Internet radio streams like those from iTunes radio but also Last.fm.

The best aspect is that it is actually very easy to start recording the streams. Here is how it is done:

Start by downloading Stationripper from the official website. The free version is just fine but comes with a few limitations like being only able to record two Internet radio streams at a time or missing, more advertisement than the commercial versions (not a huge problem if you minimize the application after starting to record the iTunes radio streams) or support for last.fm or Pandora. The free version offers on the other hand everything that is needed to record up to two iTunes radio stations at once. It does impose a limitation of 25 songs per session before the application needs to be restarted.

Start Stationripper after installation and start iTunes as well. The most comfortable way is to place the applications next to each other on the computer screen.

All that needs to be done now is to drag and drop the selected iTunes radio station into the lower part of the Stationripper interface to start recording the iTunes radio station. Free users can drag and drop two stations into the interface which will automatically be recorded from that moment on.

The directory where the iTunes radio songs get saved can be changed in the program's options. Stationripper will automatically created a directory in the download folder for every iTunes radio station that is being dragged and dropped into the interface. The songs will be saved in the format band name - song name in the directory including an image of the record or album if available.

Here is a second solution if you do not like the 25 song limit that is imposed on users. You do need the latest version of Streamripper for this. Install Streamripper (complete) and open it and iTunes. Locate the iTunes radio station that you want to record. Drag and drop it into the left sidebar of iTunes to create a playlist.

Select that new playlist and right-click on the only entry in the song list. Select Get Info from the menu to open detailed information about that radio station.

A section entitled Where should be visible in the first tab that is showing up. Where lists the url of the iTunes radio stream. This url needs to be copied. A click on Edit Url will open the url which can then be copied with Ctrl C after selecting all of it (or by selecting the url and right-clicking it and selecting Copy from the context menu).

We need to open or activate Streamripper now. A right-click in its interface will display a context menu with the option to Load a url.

The full url of the iTunes radio station needs to be pasted into the form. A click on OK and on Start in the main menu will start the identification and connection process.

Streamripper will also create separate directories for every iTunes radio stream. It usually can identify song names and artists as well. Best of all, it will record as long as it is running. Users who want to record multiple iTunes radio stations can simply open another instance of Streamripper and repeat the process.

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