Any Way To Download RTSP?

bowjest · #1 May 26th, 2009, 02:59 PM

Hello to all,

There is a series of radio programs that I'd like to download and convert to mp3 so I can listen to them at my convenience offline.

Unfortunately, they are .ram files.

I've downloaded the .ram file and opened it with TextEdit and can see the RTSP path to the .ra file, but I have no idea how to download RTSP on a Mac.

I'm assuming I can probably get a Mac version of Switch to convert the .ra file once I have it downloaded, but my main problem at the moment is trying to download the .ra file.

Can anyone suggest a failsafe way of doing this? I tried advice for VLC in another forum post, but can't seem to get it to work.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Bowjest

icemanjc · #2 May 26th, 2009, 05:09 PM

Audio Hijack will do the trick. All you have to do is choose the program you want to record from and it will record whatever it puts out. The only downside is you have to let the entire thing play to record all of it.

ElDiabloConCaca · #3 May 26th, 2009, 05:12 PM

.RAM and .RA are RealAudio files. You can play them with RealPlayer 11:

http://www.real.com/mac/?src=realhom...page=sp_os_mac

If you just want to download the .ra files, copy the link from the TextEdit document, paste it into the URL bar of Safari, then hold down the option key and press enter. This should cause Safari to download the file instead of trying to find a program to associate it with.

You can then use icemanjc's suggestion to convert the RealAudio file to another format.

bowjest · #4 May 27th, 2009, 02:05 AM

Hi, guys,

Thanks for your suggestions - both are very much appreciated.

I should have been clearer with my post: AudioHijack (which I have) isn't really an option as I've got the free version that only records for 10 minutes and then inserts white noise.

When I was a PC user, I used a freebie tool to download RealAudio files and then used Switch to convert to mp3 (simple and easy). Since moving to Mac, though, this is the first time I've needed to try to do this and was a bit surprised that this is so hard to accomplish.

Diablo - I'll give the Safari tip a try and see if I can get a Mac version of Switch and see if that does the conversion for me.

Take care and thanks again to you both.

Bowjest

bowjest · #5 May 27th, 2009, 02:10 AM

Just tried the Safari thing of pasting in the RTSP URL then holding down the option key (alt) and pressing Enter at the same time and it just launched RealPlayer and started playing the file.

Any other suggestions? If I can just get the file downloaded I can convert it somehow I'm sure.

ElDiabloConCaca · #6 May 27th, 2009, 08:37 AM

The file should be located in your "Downloads" folder, or whatever folder you have set in Safari for downloads to go to.

The reason RealPlayer is launching may be because you have "Open 'safe' files after downloading" checked in the "General" pane of Safari's preferences.

Here's a hint on how to convert RealAudio files to other formats, using a program called ffmpegX:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...60906153448633

bowjest · #7 May 27th, 2009, 01:40 PM

Thanks, Diablo,

I've changed those Safari settings, but it still just starts the .ra file in RealPlayer rather than downloading it.

Have never been able to get ffmpegx to work in spite of following those steps explicitly.

Ah, well. Guess I'll just have to figure something else out or do without.

Take care,

Bowjest

nixgeek · #8 May 27th, 2009, 02:08 PM

Did you download the ffmpeg files that you need in order to make the conversions? There should be a link from within the app. Just download the files listed there, uncompress them, and then point ffmpegX to that location of the uncompressed folder.