During the last several months, I've really gotten hooked on a piece of software called Replay AV. Basically, it records streaming audio from the internet and saves it to your PC. It doesn't use your soundcard, so you can stream multiple stations at the same time. And the interface is REALLY easy to use and reminded me of setting up a Tivo. Besides the obvious fact that all of us have mp3 players in our cars, I thought I'd post my little "review" here to get some feedback from you guys (except for Bruno, he hates everything! j/k). I've never writen a review before except on Amazon.com, so any ideas, questions, whatever you might have would be cool. Granted, this will probably only be posted on Amazon.com and a site for the Creative MP3 player I have, but I felt like going into a bit more detail.

For those of us that have ever wished we had a TiVo for the radio in our car, Replay A/V by Applian Technologies plus an MP3 player may be your answer. About a week of searching and reading reviews led me to Replay AV. Granted, Replay AV isn't quite the same thing as a DVR but I've had success in the last several months using it to do just that. Mated with an mp3 player, this is truely "TiVo To Go."

Essentially, Replay A/V is an easy to use and powerful piece of software that allows you to download and record streaming audio and video from the web. This includes radio shows that are simucast online, web-only broadcasts, Podcasts, etc. Like a DVR, you can browse or search for programs using Replay AV's built-in media browser. Once you find a show, you can either schedule recurring recordings (simular to TiVo's "Season Pass") or one-time recordings. Initially, I purchased the program to record the "Dennis Prager Show", NPR's "Car Talk" and "Science Friday" and the "Drew and Mike Show" in Detroit. However, before I knew it, I was discovering dozens of broadcasts I didn't even know existed. A few clicks here and there and I suddenly had eight shows added to my schedule. Anyone who has experienced a TiVo will likely relate. Aside from the scheduler, another "Tivo-like" feature is the ability to pause the program while you play it back on your mp3 player (or CD) and even rewind to hear something you missed.

So far, all of the features I've discussed can be found in several other programs offered online but Replay AV has a few tricks up its sleeve. The easy to use interface is reason enough to justify the purchase, but Replay AV's real power is that unlike other programs that rely on recording the output from your soundcard, Replay AV captures the stream digitally. This has several major benefits over traditional software programs. Most significantly, because the audio is recorded as a stream, you can record mulitple shows airing at the same time. Think of it as having multiple tuners. This is great at resolving scheduling conflicts when two shows overlap. Another advantage of this approach is that your saved files are ofter smaller in size. Finally, because your soundcard is not involved, you can freely use your computer while recording without worrying about the sounds from your PC entering the recording. That means you can play games, check email or even listen to mp3s while you are recording new content. Very cool. Applian offers a slightly less featured product called Replay Radio that is missing this feature. But, after only 3 days of using it, I upgraded to Replay AV for this feature alone.



Ready for more options and features? Once you've selected shows to record, you can adjust the start and end times (a great feature for avoiding the :06 news break at the top of most shows), chop/divide shows by any interval you like (30 minute chunks, 1 hour chucks, etc.), convert to MP3 or WAV files, save back-ups, etc. I could go on and on, but your best bet is to visit their site for the latest. One cool feature worth noting, however, is their "Stream Capture" mode that lets you record any streaming audio or VIDEO embedded in a site. With the exception of YouTube.com, I've found it works everytime. Audio geeks will love that Replay AV uses the highly regarded LAME mp3 encoder too.

Besides having a great product, the Support at Applian is top-notch. From sales and technical support to feature requests, they have been very responsive. I've always received personal replies in a fast manor, even on weekends. They've even taken some of my feature requests (such as custom ID3 tags) into consideration.

All of this isn't to say that there aren't a few drawbacks. For one, the lack of Custom ID3 tags has been a pain. If your mp3 player relies solely on ID3 info, this is a feature you'll want too (Applian says they are working on this for a version update). And with all of the comparisons to Tivo, one thing that this program can't do, for obvious reasons, is allow you to do any of this with live radio. I use the program to record shows while I'm at work then I listen to them the next day. So if you're into sports or very time sensitive radio content, this isn't the magic pill you've been looking for. The only other drawback might be its price at close to $50. But, after having previously purchased the less-featured "Replay Radio" for less money, I quickly paid for the upgrade to Replay AV once I relized how valuable it truely was. I recommend you do the same.

Thanks for the review. When I saw the subject, I thought you somehow got ahold of the new ReplayTV software. That would be impressive!

I have one question, though. I don't really understand what you mean when you say it can't record live radio. Do you mean over the airwaves type radio, or live internet radio? I thought that's what this thing did. What exactly is it recording then?

Ah, that's just the type of question I was looking for. The fault is all mine for not typing that clearly.

You certainly CAN record live radio (streamed over the internet) you just can't pause or rewind live radio. I was just trying to make the point that you can do all of these things, but only AFTER you have a fijle to play with. So, in my situation, every morning I transfer the mp3s from the previous day.

Ahhhh, okay. So what you're saying is that you can only pause and rewind programs you've recorded with Replay AV? Cool.

And thanks for posting about this. It's a very strange coincidence. My fiancee was just complaining on Saturday night that she loves Car Talk, but it's only available via streaming audio on NPR's site. This would be a great tool. I may try it out myself. Last summer I recorded, with much difficulty, the NPR broadcast of the Shins/White Stripes show I went to see. The process of capturing it in Cool Edit Pro was a bit of a pain.

Another question [you may have answered this in the review - I forget and I'm tired and going to bed right after this]: How does the program deal with volume levels? Since it's recorded digitally, I assume there's little you can do about it during recording... but we know what assuming does

FYI, CarTalk is also available on a "Pay per Episode" basis, but I like this program much better. There is no way to control the volume of the recordings since your soundcard is never involved but I have put a request in for that feature since the captured audio has to be converted to mp3 (or WAV) anyway. In fact, Car Talk is one of the stations that comes in kind of "quiet" but the quality is much better than the AM radio streams.

One feature that I barely mentioned is the life "Stream Capture Mode". It is used to capture audio or video embedded on a web page. When you engage this, a new window pops up with an empty screen. At this point, you click on the web page's link that bring about the audio or video. Next, the blank screen will show any urls that lead to media. This is great for "streaming only" content that normally can not be downloaded. I used to spend time weeding through html code by doing a View Source but sometimes that only led me to a playlist file on a server. I use this feature all the time to capture interviews and whatnot. And ReplayAV will convert to mp3 for me as well! Normally, I'd also have launched Cool Edit Pro, previewed the audio, adjusted my recording level, hit record, restarted the audio, end recording, trim the file and finally normalize. Talk about a pain in the ass! ReplayAV is much easier and also lets me download content I was never able to before.

I'm testing out Replay AV now. The demo version is pretty crippled, but I can already tell that it's a very good application (it bugs you a lot to register, limits you to 15 minute recordings of radio streams, and only allows you three radio recording schedules).

I'm going to have to look into it, but one thing that has suprised me is this: when I asked it to start downloading episodes of Systm, it said something like "starting torrent." Is this thing also a very basic Bittorrent client?
*edit*
It looks like it is! I have the little bittorrent logo in my system tray. That's pretty cool. Although I'm sure it cuts off right after download, so I look like a dirty leech
*/edit*

I'm very tempted to purchase this program. Brad, have you tried installing this on more than one PC? The thing is, I'd like to install this on my PC at home for recording, and at work for streaming my local classical music station.

This is also useful because I like having a utility for downloading my various pod/vidcasts in addition to this streaming media recording. Thanks for the post!

Demos are a pain aren't they?

Do you have a link to the "Systm" podcast? I havn't seen the torrent thing, I'd be interested to verify that. EDIT: I just found the show in Replay AV's program guilde and clicked the "Download" link. Next thing I knew, Bittorrent was starting up. Odd. That's the only time I've seen that. For me, it just opened the torrent link externally.

I know there are a ton of free Podcast programs out there that you could point to the same download folder if this one ends up not being a great podcast client. What I like about it is that it can litterally change any streaming radio station program into a virtual podcast.

I have NOT tried installing the program on more than one PC. If I did, I doubt they'd know because I use a gateway via my router. All PCs would show up as the same IP address. I kinda forget how the "upgrade" to AV happened... whether I had a key to plug in or if I was emailed a certain link. One thing you could do is use one location for all of your recording and then setup an FTP client on that PC for remotely accessing it. Granted, some of these files get large if you don't chop them up, but it would work. Their tech and sales support has been cool enough to the point where I'd be surprised if they didn't work with you.

Here is an AudioBlog review of the program.