Alive WMA MP3 recorder-Playback sound quality is too low after recording radio stream

[dcmadam]

Very new ... first post ... usual excuses.

This forum appears to be just what the do-it-yourself ripper needs to get started.

My thanks to the very professional advice I've picked up on thus far.

A mate set up Alive WMA MP3 recorder software on my new 4400 @ 2.00Ghz pc.

Tried using it for the first time today. Play back of speech from radio streaming proved to be good. Encouraged, I went on to try classical, opera... but hit upon a problem. Sound quality was underwhelming. If this is the standard, it isn't worth bothering. Disappointed, I wondered if quality of pc sound card was to blame - the new unit was the very cheapest available on the market - Still I don't understand how the playback quality of speech recording should be good when music isn't?

Editing: I was hoping to be able to edit out various boring bits of speech between classical music tracks, but found it well-nigh impossible to manage the cursors.

Am I using the wrong (or sub-standard) software?

Any kind Sherpa inclined to comment will be much appreciated.

Thank you very much.

I always wonder why do people use software like Alive WMA MP3 recorder, Super Mp3 Recorder Pro, i-Sound WMA/MP3 Recorder Professional. It must be ubiquitous ads that force us to buy such a software.

You can use freeware sound editor Audacity to record from sound card and edit your recordings.


MP3 music streams are usually broadcasted at a bit-rate of 96-128 kbps. It is a very low bit-rate especially for classical music. Your 5-star state-of-the-art sound card won't help here. When using a proper audio codec speech streams require much lower bit-rate to be of a decent quality.

Also when using direct sound recording software you actually re-compress your streams making quality even worth (usually it is better to record MP3 radio to MP3, WMA to WMA). Of course you can record using lossless codecs, but it will be a huge loss of HDD space.

That is why it is better to capture audio streams instead of recording them whenever it is possible. You may use media stream recorders or audio stream rippers. Such programs are usually limited to several formats so they can't record any audio stream like Direct sound recording software does. But they don't re-compress streams giving you the best quality. However 'coz audio streams are usually broadcasted at a low bit-rate there is no sense to capture classical music. You might be satisfied with the quality of recording of POP music online radio stations, but I don't

[dcmadam]

Very kind of you to share all this wisdom
Stream Recorder. I'll fully understand if you don't have time to react to comments below

Perhaps there is a "sound ripping for beginners" web place I shud visit before haunting these boards!

So if I follow, it would help to
a) get a better sound card (something I was considering)
b) uninstall (???) Alive -> replace with Audacity

However I now need to search the web to grasp the meaning of
i. "lossless codecs" and put it in context.
ii. the technical nuance between "capture" and "record"
iii. "they can't record any audio stream like Direct sound recording software does. But they don't re-compress streams giving you the best quality."

'fraid I'm not very clear on meaning of this.

Also, is the suggestion that it isn't possible to record/capture quality classical music from radio streaming?

Wonder if 'listen again' radio streaming is the same technically as live?

iv. "However 'coz audio streams are usually broadcast at a low bit-rate there is no sense to capture classical music."
Again do I take it you saying that effectively there is no way at present to record/capture live or replay audio/radio web streaming?

v. Is it technically feasible for a total tech newbie to uninstall Alive and replace it with Audacity?

For background, the writer here is a 56-yr-old EU political affairs journalist, somewhat housebound by rheumatoid arthritis. Though a surfer and e-publisher of 14 years standing, technical ability is as limited as the physical mobility!!!

Have you renounced recording classical music from live web radio stream? If not what mechanisms do you use or recommend?

Thank you most sincerely for starting me off with this intelligence and for any further remarks.

Originally Posted by dcmadam

So if I follow, it would help to
a) get a better sound card (something I was considering)
b) uninstall (???) Alive -> replace with Audacity

Both won't help. See below for more.

Originally Posted by dcmadam

However I now need to search the web to grasp the meaning of
i. "lossless codecs" and put it in context.

Unlike lossy codecs, lossless codecs compress your audio files in the way you do not lose any quality. So you convert your compressed files to the exact originals.

Lossy codecs try to eliminate sounds that people won't hear. Lossy codecs allow you to get smaller files, but their quality suffers more or less.

Originally Posted by dcmadam

ii. the technical nuance between "capture" and "record"

Actually everything got entangeled here. People use capture, record, rip, download, save to HD as synonyms.

When talking about audio streams I prefer to use record when recording from sound card and capture/rip/download when saving stream in the format it is broadcasted in.

When you record from sound card you lose some quality, unless you use a lossless codec that allows you not to lose any quality at the expense of bigger files.

Originally Posted by dcmadam

iii. "they can't record any audio stream like Direct sound recording software does. But they don't re-compress streams giving you the best quality."
'fraid I'm not very clear on meaning of this.

Direct sound recording software can record any sound produced by your sound card. When saving the recorded sound to audio files computer software uses some audio codec. It can be lossless so that there will be no quality loss, but rather large files. Or it can be lossy so that you can receive smaller files, the quality and size of the saved files depend on a codec and its settings (like bit-rate, simply speaking, how much information is used to code some piece of audio signal).

Originally Posted by dcmadam

Also, is the suggestion that it isn't possible to record/capture quality classical music from radio streaming?

Live MP3 streams usually have a bit-rate of 96-128 kbps. It might be enough for POP music, but it is definitely too low for classical music. Even if you use a state-of-the-art sound card and save audio to a lossless format, it won't help!!!

I strongly suggest you to buy Audio CDs with classical music.

Originally Posted by dcmadam

Wonder if 'listen again' radio streaming is the same technically as live?

On-demand streams are much better. You can listen to them later on. This is a strong plus, 'coz one can experience problems playing online streams due to say network congestion. And if you can't replay radio stream, you can't re-record it.

Originally Posted by dcmadam

iv. "However 'coz audio streams are usually broadcast at a low bit-rate there is no sense to capture classical music."
Again do I take it you saying that effectively there is no way at present to record/capture live or replay audio/radio web streaming?

The problem is not in capturing. You can capture or record audio streams with classical music without any problem. But 'coz stream broadcasts are of low quality, your recordings will be of the same quality (or even worse if you re-compress using some lossy codec).

Originally Posted by dcmadam

v. Is it technically feasible for a total tech newbie to uninstall Alive and replace it with Audacity?

I think Audacity is not a difficult software to install. IMHO you should learn how to install and uninstall Windows software anyway. Most probably you will need this skill later on.

However if you purchased Alive WMA MP3 recorder there is probably no sense to uninstall it and use any other software. Audacity is very powerful, but it is rather complicated for newbies.

If you like to record classical music videos you may read the following thread
how to record video streaming from www.medici-arts.tv