User Guide: Jaksta Radio Recorder for Windows (v5)

When you start for the application for the first time, the default module is the Library.

The Library displays all audio that you have downloaded or recorded. Subsequent starts will default to the last module you were in when you exited the program.

From the library you can select the type of recording (Internet or Audio) you would like to do using the drop downlist. When you change the recording type the toolbar icons will adjust for that recording type. If you have selected to display a modules tab then these controls also appear on that tab.

The Library has two types of views. A list view and a thumbnail view. To change views select the one you want from the toolbar.

The thumbnail view displays an icon for each download or recording. The icon will be taken from an image lookup from the internet.  You can change the image on the Properties form.

The context menu button in the top right corner of each thumbnail displays action menu items that apply to that item.  This menu can also be displayed by right clicking the item.

Double clicking an item will play it.  If there is a progress bar across the item, double clicking the progress bar will display the Properties dialog.

Renaming an item is similar to renaming a file in Windows Explorer: To rename an item, click the name.  Use the Escape key to cancel or Return key to confirm.

The list view displays a row for each item with columns containing the date, name and status of the item.  It also displays an icon indicating the status.

To display the context menu for an item(s) select the item(s) and right click. Alternatively select the Library menu.

There is a virtual folder for each module that contains downloads and recordings for that particular module.

You can create your own folders via Library > Folders > New Folder menu item.

Each module also has a default output folder and you can change this using the toolbar icon on the appropriate module.

You can drag both thumbnail and list view items to folders you create.

You can show or hide the folders via Library > Folders > Show folders menu item.  You can show/hide individual default folders under this menu as well.

You can import items into your library by drag and dropping them from Windows Explorer. When viewing a folder you have created you can import all media in that folder by Library > Folders > Synchronize.

The Library > Settings menu will display the Settings dialog and automatically display the Library tab.  You can change the following settings:

• Media Folder: This is the root folder where your media will reside.
• Thumbnails Per Page: The number of thumbnails that appear in the Library after which a "More" icon will appear.  Clicking this icon will display the next page of items.
• No recently added: The number of items that will appear in the Recently Added view of each module after which a "More" icon will appear. Clicking this icon will display the next page of items.
• Clear library after exit: When checked this will clear the library of all media when the application is exited. No media files will be deleted.
• Delete to recycle bin: When checked deleting an item will move it to the recycle bin. Unchecked and the file will be deleted.
• Use IE Proxy settings: When checked the application will use Internet Explorers proxy settings.
• Small Interface/Display tray: When checked and using a modules small interface, inprogress downloads and recordings will be displayed in a small panel just above the task tray
• Small Interface/Always on Top: When checked and using a modules small interface, the small interface will be the top most window.
• Player/Choose based on Windows file association: When checked the player associated with the items file extensions will be used. When unchecked the Jaksta Media Player will be used.  If it is not installed you will be prompted to download and install it.
• Minimize to task tray: When checked and the application window is minimized it will appear in the task tray and not the task bar

To reset to the default settings. Click the Defaults button.

Conversions are preformed by the excellent open source product ffmpeg that is distributed with all our products.

The Library module contains a drop down list of preset conversion settings in the toolbar. Selecting a preset from this drop down means that any download, recording or conversion started after the preset is changed will be converted to that format.

Preset conversion settings are sorted by Device type, Manufacture and Format, so finding one right for you is very easy.

If you dont wish for a conversion to occur, select Dont Convert

By default converted items are created in the Media folder.  You can change the output folder using the Output Folder menu item to select a new folder.

To automatically import recorded, downloaded and converted media into iTunes, select an iTunes supported conversion settings and check the Import into iTunes item at the bottom of this menu.

You have full control over the preset conversion settings and can create, delete and modify them.  However as new devices and formats are released we update preset conversion settings on our servers and these are automatically downloaded when you start the application.

To create, delete or edit existing preset conversion settings select the Configure menu item from the drop down to display the Conversion Settings dialog.

• Select the preset conversion setting you wish to modify from the drop downlist
• Edit button: Will enable editing of the existing preset.
• Copy button: Will prompt you for a new preset name and create that preset.
• Delete button: Will delete the preset
• Defaults button: Will reset all presets to their default settings

For more information on the conversion settings options please refer to the FFMPEG help: http://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html.

The Library > Convert menu will allow you to select one or more media files from your file system to convert.  These files can be out side of your library and will be imported if required.

The Library > Fix FLV menu will allow you to select one or more FLV files from your file system to fix. For more information on fixing FLV files please refer to Fix FLV in the Internet section of this guide.

The Library > Meta Data/Tags menu will allow you to select one or more media files from your file system so you can change the ID3 tags. Double click a tag to change the value.

On each items menu is Properties item that when clicked displays the Properties dialog

• General Tab: Displays information such as Name, Location, Size, Source and Image. You can change the name and image. To view the file in Windows Explorer click the folder icon next to the location.
• Meta Data/Tags: Displays and allows the modification of ID3 tags if the fomat supports it. If supported double click a tag to change its value.
• Progress Log: Displays information about the download, recording or conversion. If a download, recording or conversion has failed then look at this log to see why

Jaksta Radio Recorder is a guide based recorder and downloader. Use the extensive builtin guides to find, listen to and download and record radio and podcasts.

We are adding new guides all the time so be sure to always use the lastest version.

When you open a guide you may be prompted for the best method to download or record from that guide. If you are not prompted then the guide will allow you to directly download and schedule from within it.

Some guides provide the ability to download and schedule directly from within the guide itself.  Others require Internet monitoring or audio recording to be switched on to capture media as it plays in the guide. Where Internet monitoring is required to capture, you will prompted to switch it on when the guide is open and it will be switched off when the guide is closed.

At any time you can change the default output folder that recordings and downloads will be saved in by clicking  in the toolbar.

The Internet > Settings menu will display the Settings dialog and automatically display the Internet tab.  You can change the following settings:

• Monitor
  • Select from the Internet Monitor or Winpcap as the network driver. Use the Internet Monitor if you are capturing over a VPN.
  • Enter ports to be monitored and their expected protocols

• 

• HTTP (Click for information on the HTTP Protocol)
  • To increase the speed of HTTP downloads, Music Miner can use a method called segmented downloading. This is where a single download is broken to several smaller downloads (segments) and each is downloaded at the same time.
  • The speed boost obtained is dependent on your network connection, your computer and the server streaming the video or audio.
  • Here you can configure the number of segments to break a download into and the minimium size a segment can be.
  • If a download is failing and you see in the Progress log that segements are failing, turn the Max number of segments to 1.

• 

• RTMP (Click for information on the RTMP Protocol)
  
  

  Some sites that stream RTMP will also try and secure it with a technology called SWF Verification. It is illegal for our products to respond to SWF Verification requests so we ignore them. This will cause the server connection to then drop after a period of time. The following settings allow you to control how these secure streams are handled.

  • Automatically resume when a secure RTMP connection is dropped: Enable this and the download will automatically restart each time the connection is dropped.

• Live streams such as webcams sometimes send incorrect timestamps.  This means the file created for the download plays back incorrectly. The following settings allow you to control how these are fixed.

  • Automatically fix live streams and those without a duration: Enable this and such streams will be fixed
  • Rebase timestamps to 0: Enable this and all timestamps will be rebased so the file starts at 0 time

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• RTMP Adv. (Click for information on the RTMP Protocol)
  
  

  The RTMP protocol allows us to request the amount of data the server should send in each chunk. Requesting a large chunk means that in many instances the download will happen much faster than the playback speed. The following settings allow you to control how this Super Download feature works.

  • Initial client buffer size (seconds): The number of seconds of data the server should send
  • Enable Super Download:: Check to enable this feature
  • Super Buffer size (seconds): The number of seconds of data the server should send when attempting a Super Download.
  • Disable for live streams: Check this to disable this feature for live streams

• 

• Dynamic
  
  Smooth (Click for information on the Smooth Streaming protocol)
  • Microsoft Smooth Streaming is an adaptive streaming protcol which means that the quality of the media displayed to the user changes in real time as the user watches based on their internet connection.
  • Therefore there are many different stream qualities available. Select the quality you wish to download from the drop down list.
• HDS (Click for information on the HDS protocol)
  • Adobe HTTP Adaptive Streaming is an adaptive streaming protcol which means that the quality of the media displayed to the user changes in real time as the user watches based on their internet connection.
  • Therefore there are many different stream qualities available. Select the quality you wish to download from the drop down list.
• Lumberjack (Click for information on the Lumberjack protocol)
  • Lumberjack Adaptive Streaming is an adaptive streaming protcol which means that the quality of the media displayed to the user changes based on their internet connection.
  • Therefore there are many different stream qualities available. Select the quality you wish to download from the drop down list.

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• Naming
  
  

  Please see the FAQ Why are stations being recorded/downloaded with strange file names? for more information.

  Naming rules applied when a stream is detected

  • Active Browser: If a browser window is active then the title of that page will be used. Supports IE, Chrome, Firefox, Opera
  • YouTube: The last visited YouTube page title will be used for a YouTube download
  • Playlist: Video and music players sometimes use what is termed playlist files to obtain the stream(s) to play and these can contain title.  Jaksta will match stream urls against any detected playlists to see if a title can be found.  This is common for music sites (e.g. Pandora)
  • Referer: HTTP request can contain what is termed a referer which identifies the url of the page which made the request. If the detected streams request contains a referer then the title of this page will be used as the name.
  • HTTP Title: The application keeps track of all visited HTML pages.  The domain name of a streams url will be used to lookup the last page visited in that domain and that page title will be used.  Extended HTTP Title lookup will occur once the download is complete.
  • URL Parameter: The streams url is searched for parameters such as title= or name=. If one is found then that will be used as the name. Extended HTTP Title lookup will occur once the download is complete.
  • URL Path: The file part of the streams url will be used.  For example http://www.jaksta.com/some/path/file.mp3 the name would be file.mp3.  Extended HTTP Title lookup will occur once the download is complete.

• Naming rules applied when a stream has completed downloading

  • Meta Data/Tagging: The resultant file will be examined for ID3 tags.  Applies to file types that support IDS tags (MP3, MP4, WMV, etc)  - not FLV.
  • Extended HTTP Title: The application keeps track of all visited HTML pages.  The streams domain name is used to lookup the last 5 visited pages.  Each pages content will be examined to see if the streams url appears in the page.  If it does then the title of that page will be used as the name.

• 

Audio recording is a great way to capture copy protected radio.

Radio Recorder's audio recording is unique in that it records audio directly from an application (like a browser) and does NOT mix the sound from different applications together.

This means that if you are recording from a station and someone rings you on Skype your conversation will NOT be mixed in with your radio recordings!

Start recording by clicking the Start button in the toolbar. The Audio module will glow blue whist recording.

If you are recording alot then you may wish to use the Small Interface by clicking  in the toolbar. The Main Interface will disappear  and the Small Interface will appear in the top right hand corner of your screen and allow you to stop and start recording as well as return to the Main Interface by clicking 

At any time you can change the default output folder that recordings will be saved in by clicking  in the toolbar.

The Audio > Settings menu will display the Settings dialog and automatically display the Audio tab.  You can change the following settings:

• Output Format: Either MP3 or WAV. If MP3 you can also select the output rate.
• Silence: Is a value between 1 and 255. Sound values at or below this number will be considered silence
• Slience Time: The number of milliseconds that sound values should be below the Silence value for silence to be detected
• Record Silence: Silence based on the parameters above will be recorded when this is checked. When unchecked silence is not recorded.
• Split on Silence: The current recording file is closed and a new one opened when silence is detected based on the parameters above.
• Minimum duration: Recordings less than this value are automatically deleted. This can be used to remove ads.

On the Audio Capture tab you can add and remove executables that audio will be captured from. If its not in this list the audio will not be captured from it.

The application contains a sophisticated scheduler which allows you to schedule regular and unattended downloads and/or recordings

The scheduler takes into consideration the timezone of the source and also handles changes in daylight savings between the source and you. This is particularly import for regular radio recordings.

The application does not need to be running when a download or recording is scheduled.  It will automatically start.

You can configure a scheduled download or recording as follows:

• Name: This is the name of the scheduled recording/download. It will also be used for the resultant file name. You can also use the following parameters to add start time information to the file name: {D} - day, {M} - Month, {Y} - year, {H} - Hour, {MI} - minute.
• Url: The url
• Capture:
  • Direct download: The url will be downloaded directly
  • Record from stream: Internet monitoring will be switched on and the url will be opened in the default browser. What ever is streamed will be captured.
  • Record Audio (output from speakers): Audio recording will be switched on and the url will be opened in the default browser. What ever is streamed will be captured.
  • Record Screen and Audio Output: The url will be opened in the default browser and the player will be automatically detected and screen recording started.
• Launch/Download: Changes based on the capture selection. Defines how the url will be started or defines the download method to use for the url.
• From: Is enabled for downloads such as RSS Feed, BBC Episode and YouTube channels which have published dates. Items with published dates after this date will be downloaded. Each time the schedule runs for such downloads this date will be updated ensuring only newly published items are downloaded.
• Start: The start date and time in the given TimeZone
• Duration: The duration of the recording after which time it will be stopped. -1 is no duration.
• At complete: What action to take (if any) when a download triggered from this schedule is complete.
• TZ: Time zone of the start date and time. This will be used to schedule the task at the correct time on your machine.  Each time a schedule task occurs the start time is updated against the timezone to take into account daylight savings changes or your machine and this TZ.
• Schedule: The days of the week on which the scheduled task will run. If you dont select days then a once off task will be created at the Start date and time.
• Convert: Select a preset conversion setting to convert to once the download is complete
• Folder: The folder within your media folder that the download will be saved to.

We recommend that where possible always use the Schedule menu from within a Guide. This will ensure times and timezones are set correctly for the source.

You can export your schedules to a file and move them to Jaksta Radio Recorder running on another machine. Use the Export/Import menu items under the 

Schedule menu.

Schedule Tasks are infact Windows Task Scheduler Tasks.  You can edit any features that the Windows Task Scheduler supports through the Windows Task Scheduler itself.

Please refer to the Conversions section in the Library section of this guide