With the recent crackdowns on illegal file sharing, music lovers the world over are looking for new, clever ways to get the music they want. There are plenty of file sharing sites out there that exploit every little legal loophole they can find, but new laws are hitting the books constantly to battle them. Fortunately, a new program has come along that looks to be unstoppable. It’s called RadioTracker.
Many of us “old timers” remember listening to terrestrial radio with a cassette tape in the deck, ready to record out favorite songs. RadioTracker works in much the same way, but only with internet radio. Thousands of internet radio stations representing every sort of genre are constantly playing free music every day. RadioTracker tunes into these stations and allows you to record your favorite songs from them, turning them into mp3s!
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Easy to Use
This all sounds well and good, but how does this software measure up? That’s what I was hoping to find out when I decided to check it out.
Downloading the software was a snap – pretty much comparable to most mp3 players – and setup was just as easy.
There’s a handy “Help” feature on the website and a video tutorial that walks you through everything. I was pretty much ready to go in minutes. It’s very easy to use and anyone that’s ever used some of the other mp3 players out there will be able to figure it out in no time.
Create your wish list of songs and RadioTracker will find and record it
One cool feature in RadioTracker is the ability to create a “wish list” of songs that you’re looking for. You can create this list, and RadioTracker will scan the thousands of internet radio stations until it finds the song you’re looking for.
Once it finds the song, it will record it and save it as an mp3. This program uses information supplied by the internet radio station to know what song it is recording, so if you like certain music from a station that uses a different format, this feature won’t work. Most stations, however, use similar technology, so this will only rarely be a problem.
Organize music by genre
Another cool thing I found was the ability to organize music by genre. RadioTracker can be set to record anything “80s,” for example. As above, it will then scan the stations, using the information provided, and record 80’s songs as mp3s.
Using similar technology, it can also search for lyrics and album art and save them as well. Ever heard a song and not know the title, only the lyrics? We all have, I’m sure, so this feature is really handy.
RadioTracker is also backed up by a great company in Audials. They have a bunch of other great programs that I won’t get into here, and are willing and able to help you with any concerns, in my experience.
RadioTracker Summary
Overall, I found RadioTracker to be a very useful, easy to use bit of software. Anybody that likes to stock their iPod before exercising will definitely get a lot of use out of this program. Ever since the file sharing crackdowns, I’ve found it hard to find the music I want in a digital format.
Sure, I still buy the CDs, but sometimes you just want one song or feel like putting it on your PC, right at that moment.
RadioTracker seems to be a pretty good solution. It costs less than $30, and it’s a one-time fee; there’s no monthly charge or anything like that. Best of all, it’s completely legal. People come down on different sides of the file sharing issue, but with RadioTracker, there’s no argument. Anybody that enjoys music and mp3s should give it a try.