Do you know what cassette tapes are? They are still around and some people still use them - mostly older people who don’t have CD recordable drives or MD recordable players - so you probably at least have seen one or know what they are. They are not quite obsolete. However, most people use other forms of media to record music these days, or download music already recorded into a format an MP3 player can read. If you have CDs and want to listen to the music on your MP3 player, you first have to rip the music. Ripping is the process of taking music off the CD and recording it into a different compressed format, usually 10 times smaller in size.

In the old days, when people listened to the radio, it was popular to sit beside the radio and record music you liked onto a cassette. This was the way to get music if you didn’t buy the albums or cassettes. It was a painful process that sometimes took hours. But it was the way to go. It was ripping music old style.

Radios haven’t changed much over the years. They’ve just gotten smaller, more powerful and have added more features. But the radio air waves are the same. If you have a radio that can rip music, great. You can immediately burn the music onto a CD and play the music back. The only problem is, you have to lug around a huge CD player to play the CD and while CD players are not quite obsolete, they don’t get used by most people, only older gradma and grandpa types who haven’t quite gotten up to speed with the newer formats of music playing, and will soon be something of the past like cassette tapes.

For those who are more adept, MP3 players are the way to go. All one has to do is download the music off the Internet in a format that is usually already welcomed by most MP3 players, load the music onto an MP3 player properly, and go. 1, 2, 3. Simple and fast! No waiting for hours by the radio to record, to huge CD players weighing you down.

The only problem is getting the music. It costs money. And most people that listen to music like to spend as little as possible for it. Even the very rich conserve their cash. If there is a way to get music for free, most will go that route. And the only way to do that is through the radio. Good thing there is now Internet radio! But here lies the problem. Most don’t know how to record the music from the radio stations that plays on the Net.

There are many great pieces of software out there that you can buy and record or rip music. But there go the $$ signs again. They usually cost money to own so you can get the music for free. In which case, why buy the software to get music for free. Just buy the music for free if it is less than what it costs to rip the music.

You ever buy software on sale that a few weeks later you found for free? It’s happened to me many times. Now, I no longer buy the software. If I feel I need to buy some software, I just wait a few weeks later and get it for free usually under the GPL, General Public License.

There are so many people out there that are developing software for free. These people are awesome! Everyone should hug or donate money to those that create GPL software. Instead of buying software for $20 or $200, donate a $1 or $2. A dollar here and there adds up when tons of people donate. Software designers don’t usually spend the BIG $$ to advertise, so they don’t have huge expenses weighing them down. They happily accept a few $$ here and there and pay the bills so they can make more software. It’s a cycle most don’t mind doing because they usually end up getting good money to do what they love to do.

Ok, back to ripping software!

People like the ones I previously mentioned, make similar pieces of software called plug-ins. These things usually work with other pieces of software made by others. One really great piece of music software to listen to music is called Winamp. It’s been around since the beginning of time, Internet time that is. Actually, I don’t know when it was created offhand, but I do know that I’ve been using it for years! Many years! And I love it. It’s much better than Windows Media player. Less bugs and less weight. It also has a great many plug-in creators.

There are tons of plug-ins to choose from, but the one I like best is the one I recently found by accident while searching for iPod software. I don’t remember exactly what words I used in my search, but I found this plug-in that allows me to rip music off of Internet radio stations and I don’t have to wait around by the radio to separate each song that plays. It’s amazing!

A few years ago, I bought a similar piece of software called RipCast. But the software worked for awhile until I upgraded by computer OS to XP, and RipCast 1.5 is supposed to upgrade to 1.9, but for some reason it hasn’t and the company I bought the software from doesn’t return my emails regarding fixing my upgrade. So I’ve been searching for quite sometime for something like what I found a few weeks ago; software I can enable and record music without having to spend tons of time on the computer.

If you are looking for software like this, you are in luck! This plug-in works like a charm with Winamp and is free…totally free! Just download, install and restart Winamp.

I found a good station using ShoutCast, enabled the plug-in and went off to work. When I came back, my computer had tons of great music on it, ripped and separated ready for me to add to my iPod. A few minutes later, it was on there and I was off listening, sitting on a train headed back to work! What a blessing! I’m sending this guy a few $$ donation! It’s the least I can do. You should too! Listening to the Radio and recording is back!

Here’s the plug-in: StreamRipper for Winamp

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 21st, 2007 at 11:45 pm and is filed under Music, Software Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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