radio timer recording

[admin_exported]

I record radio programmes on to cassette,set to switch on then off by timer when i'm out. I then take the cassette and listen to it in my car.

The buttons on my Sony system have now stopped working.

I know this is an old fashioned way of doing things but it has always worked well for my purposes.

Can anyone please suggest an alternative way of timer recording radio prgrammes or where I might get a similar system/radio cassette with timer facility.

Many thanks,

Rob Charles

 

[Anonymous]

Hi - this is what I do these days which is very similar but perhaps more versatile. I have a VCR onto which I record radio using Freeview. This gives me upto 12 hrs recording with the option of multiple choice in terms of stations and dates/times which come with the timer built into any VCR . I then have a second VCR plugged into the aux connection of the hifi (VCRs are dirt cheap on ebay). This allows me to listen around the house. So I can play the VCR Tape through the system to listen about the house.

I still have a cassette tape player connected to the hi fi so when I want to listen to cassettes then I simply copy the programme onto the tape to play it in the car.

It may sound complicated but the benfits are immense. For example, it meant I could go to France this summer and come back to three weeks of recorded programmes.

Like you I've been scratching my head for a better way but, while video cassettes and audio cassettes survive, I cant come up with a better solution.

malcs

 

[JamesOK]

These have an EPG and a slot for a memory card. You can record on to the memory card and listen when you like. Or what about a Freeview/Freesat box? You can record the radio on to the PVR Hard disk and listen when you like.

You dont have to use cassettes surely?

 

[cse]

James OK - this doesn't explain how you would listen in the car??? Also, not being able to record programmes from iplayer is immensely annoying (only podcasts).

 

[JamesOK]

cse:James OK - this doesn't explain how you would listen in the car??? Also, not being able to record programmes from iplayer is immensely annoying (only podcasts).

Yes youre right - I missed that not insignificant requirement! having said that, if the OP is happy to spend a little, a car stereo which takes electronic USB type storage is pretty cheap nowadays.

 

[chebby]

Get a DVD recorder with Freeview and built-in hard-drive. (I recommend the Panasonic DMR-EX83EB-K for around £230)

Set up your timed Freeview radio recording to hard-drive using the DVD recorder's EPG. (It's only a couple of button pushes, no faffing with timers.)

If you still need or prefer a cassette deck, then don't worry, you can still buy good ones. (Good feedback if you ignore the 1 star feedback from some plank who thought it should come with speakers!)

Here is another one that is still made.

If your DVD/Freeview recorder is plugged into your hifi with RCA phono, then just tape your recorded radio programmes from it onto cassette just like from any other source.

Freeview is an excellent quality source of radio (far better than DAB and almost as good as FM at it's best.)

 

[Anonymous]

Yep - I'm with Chebby; the advent of freeview has really "cracked it"for us radio recorders/

 

[cse]

This is all great if you have your HIFI connected to your TV set-up. I have two seperate living rooms. One for TV, with the Panasonic DVD recorder, which is excellent. The other for CD and tuner only. I often listen to a radio 3 broadcast and want to record it instantly, for listening either in the car or back on the HIFI itself and no longer have cassette or want to reinvest in it as it is no longer in the car. The easiest solution would be a recordable CD player, but these never caught on. I record radio on the DVD Freeview and listen back via the TV (most unsatisfactory) but you can't then record onto a CD. Nothing worse than listening to the radio with the TV on. It seems to me that that the days of making free and live music recordings from the radio, that are portable, are over. Again if you could record from the iplayer it would be perfect and then you could burn onto a CD. All this conversation about something that used to be so simple!

 

[chebby]

cse:It seems to me that that the days of making free and live music recordings from the radio, that are portable, are over. Again if you could record from the iplayer it would be perfect and then you could burn onto a CD. All this conversation about something that used to be so simple!

It is much simpler now. No timers necessary, no limits based on tape length and no rushing around trying to find a spare tape. Unattended recordings are totally worry free.

If you want it 'portable' then one £3 lead and a bit of free software (like Audacity) will allow you to easily 'record' the programme onto your PC then import to iTunes and sync to your iPod.

 

[cse]

Don't have an ipod??? Or PC???

 

[chebby]

The fact that you don't happen to have a PC or an iPod (and have your TV and hifi in different rooms), does not mean that... "the days of making free and live recordings from the radio, that are portable, are over" ...for everyone else.

I could argue that 'the days of [anything I don't own or don't do] are over' by that logic.

The fact remains that portable recordings (whether on cassettes or iPods or USB sticks or whatever) derived from FM tuners or Freeview devices with built in HDDs, can be done easily in a variety of ways from those familiar 30 years ago (brand new cassette decks can still be bought) to those involving more recent technology. (Or a mixture of the two).

 

[cse]

How do you record from iplayer then?

 

[WinterRacer]

I'm a bit loathe to mention it in case it turns out I'm performing copyright infringement, but get_iplayer is a fantastic programme that allows you to download (record) tv and radio programmes from iPlayer using your pc (Windows or Linux I believe)

It's command line driven, so not the most user friendly, but pretty easy, for example, I downloaded Guy Garvey's 6Music show from Sunday night with the following commands:

get_iplayer --type=radio garvey

This gives me the id of the programme, i.e.,

Matches:
11020: Guy Garvey's Finest Hour - 26/09/2010, BBC 6 Music, Classic Pop & Rock,Music,Radio,Rock & Indie

Then you type the following command and it downloads the programme in no time at all!

get_iplayer --get 11020