Shifting to Stream Ripping
Is there a shift occurring from file sharing to stream ripping? Listening to streaming radio stations like those on Shoutcast doesn’t give you control over which songs you hear, but you can choose a genre and a high quality bitrate. And the RIAA doesn’t know if you are just listening or ripping the mp3 stream. Links from an article on Slashdot on the topic have people discussing the software they use and how the RIAA might respond.
I’ve been using Streamripper, which uses the ID3 data in the stream to write mp3 files with the right ID3 tags. Sometimes, the ID3 data arrives too early or late, and the files are not cut up cleanly, especially when the broadcaster is using cross-fading. Sometimes the stream hangs up after a while with certain stations, which surprised me over broadband. Are some broadcasters doing this on purpose to foil rippers?
Recording radio with a computer is protected by the Home Recording Act of 1992. Because computers are general purpose machines and not digital audio recording devices, they are not required to comply with Serial Copy Management System requirement (no copies of copies). However, Real Networks sued Streambox using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to prevent them from saving streams from Real audio format. But if there is no copyright protection on the stream format (straight mp3), then is there no circumvention?
Another interesting idea is XM Radio. They sell a nifty USB-based device called XM Radio PCR that lets you listen to satellite radio on your computer, which means you can save the audio easily. It works using a line-in to your sound card, so the signal is analog. However, the PCR has already been hacked, and you can either buy a kit or a modified PCR to get digital optical outputs. Of course, there is XMPCR Linux software available, based on a Perl module, that makes ripping the stream and tagging the artist information easy to do. 