In this round of Ask TUAW we'll be considering questions about recording online radio, making screenshots, rescuing an old OS 7.5 Performa, changing a Time Machine backup to a larger disk, editing mp4 metadata, doing a sync when plugging in an external storage device and more.As always your suggestions are most welcome, and questions for next week should be left in the comments. When asking a question please include which machine you're running and which version of OS X, as certain answers will vary between different Macs and Tiger vs. Leopard, etc. (we'll assume you're running Leopard if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions!
climbingcolorado asks
I listen to talk radio all day, via actual radio stations' websites thru Firefox on my 10.5.2 2.4GHz iMac. Most of these radio station websites stream typically on a Windows Media Player window, which I use Flip4Mac to hear. I want to record these radio programs and listen to them on my iPod. Ideally, all these programs would just be podcasted from the radio station, but they aren't. Is there a program that will allow me to record streaming audio into some sort of mp3 file?
There are a couple of applications that are designed for this purpose: Radioshift ($32) from Rogue Amoeba is perhaps the best, though there's also iRecordMusic ($24.95) and RadioLover ($15) both from Bitcartel. However, if you want a more general solution you should check out either Audio Hijack Pro also $32 from Rogue Amoeba or WireTap Studio ($69), either of which can record any audio source on your mac.
templestark asks
I take a lot of screenshots, for copy editing purposes and others. It used to be in OS9 that the default location for them was the harddrive, now it is the Desktop which creates massive clutter and requires me to create multiple folders to organize them. Is there a way to change the default location for these screenshots? To either the harddrive or a specific folder?
Fellow reader Chris suggests this hint and byaah notes that OnyX will give you a nice GUI way of doing the same thing. That said, if you take a lot of screenshots I'd highly suggest using a dedicated application rather than the built-in option. Here at TUAW many of us use one or both of ImageWell ($19.95) and Skitch (in public beta, price not yet released).
dRfruitLOOP asks
I just scavenged an old Performa 6400/180 from my grandmother's basement. I'm guessing the poor guy has been sitting there since around '99. I just booted it up and it works surprisingly well. I guess my question is this; do you have any ideas for what to do with it? It seems like a shame to just let it rot, since it works so nicely. If I could at least get it on my network, I would be thrilled. It's running 7.5, if that matters.
I sympathize with the desire to rescue your old Mac; I've been looking for a working Mac Classic or SE myself (anybody got one that needs a good home?). There are many websites dedicated to old Macs, but I suspect you might like to start at System 7 Today which even includes a tutorial on networking with OS X. You'd probably do well to check out some of the links (look in the sidebar) and mailing lists over at Low End Mac. Have fun with your old Mac.
Brady asks
so i got a 250 gb backup for time machine nd its full so i wanna get a new one and so when i get it can i transfer my files over to that and it just automaticly detects it as a time machine or what can you explain what i need 2 do
I've never done it myself, but this hint over at Mac OS X Hints suggests that this is easy enough to do with the Disk Utility (in /Applications/Utilities). I originally though to suggest doing a block level clone, which I think would still work though some folks have reported problems. It's probably best to use the Disk Utility.
iTechWorld asks
Hi I recently moved my iTunes library from my mac mini to my iMac because the Mini is now a server. Anyway how do I get Front Row to read the itunes library on the external hard drive of the iMac from the iMac
I'm a little bit confused as to exactly what you're asking. But I suspect you can fix your problem by putting an alias to your iTunes library folder on the external hard drive in your ~/Music folder.
Pete asks
Does anyone know a way to output the contents of a folder to some sort of text document? I want to have a text listing of the contents of a folder containg all my videos.
This hint over at Mac OS X Hints suggests doing this with a reasonably easy Automator workflow to generate a text file with TextEdit. You might also want to check out Print Window, which has a feature limited free version as well a full version for $20.
will asks
I've recently formatted my MBP along with movies and podcasts. I have been able to drag out some video podcasts downloaded through itunes that were free. Now that I have formatted I have wanted to get all of my iTunes Library back up and running. These podcasts can be played through VLC however when dragged into itunes, simply goes into the podcasts section rather than the TV Shows sections as I had wanted. I can't get them out of the podcasts section as well. How can I have these videos put into itunes without it coming up as a podcast.
I'm not sure what you mean by "formatted" here, but as long as the podcasts are mp4 files you just need to edit the kind metadata. There are several ways to do this, but you probably would be best served with MetaX (donations requested). Edit the Video Kind setting in the Video tab. If the video files are not mp4 you can convert them with VisualHub ($23.32).
Adam asks
I currently am using an iBook G4 (mid-2005) as a 'traveling' laptop that my fiance and I use in the kitchen for listening to music and finding recipes while we cook. As of late, the laptop has been extremely slow to boot up (we're talking 20 min. max) and I have a feeling that it's time is almost up. My question to you is, what is my best bet to save all my music from iTunes in the case one day (soon?) that laptop won't boot at all? Am I looking for a some sort of external HD? If thats the case, I'd like to find one that I can use through my Airport Extreme as well, if possible.
Well yes you could get an external HD and clone your disk to the external (or even just your iTunes Library and then change the iTunes Library location in the iTunes preferences), and if you want to use it with an Airport Extreme Base Station it will need to be USB 2. That said, you obviously also could get an iPod classic and sync all of your music over to that. If you go the iPod route you can recover that music to another Mac with PodWorks or Senuti.
Toren asks
On my Leopard Mac Pro, I have a few document folders that I want to carry on my flash drive. I could simply copy and paste the folders, but keeping track of changes between the two would be near impossible. I would like to have an automatic two way sync from my flash drive to my Mac HD (the same way iPhone data is updated on my Mac and data from my Mac is updated on my iPhone). Something that would copy most recently modified items to the opposite location. I would like something automatic to run when I plug in my flash drive - not a scheduled sync.
We have a TUAW Tip from a while back that suggests a number of ways to get this done. Just be sure to use one of the methods (e.g. ChronoSync) that involves bi-directional syncing.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-12-2008 @ 11:28AM
Mart said...
What those streaming radio recorders really need is a TiVo-like buffer memory. That way, like TiVo if a tune comes on you want to record it can retroactively record from the beginning of the tune, rather than miss the first part. (Of course, like TiVo you'd need to be already tuned into that stream/station.) But none of this software can do this - why is that?
Reply
4-12-2008 @ 11:38AM
alex said...
wow a working performa 6400/180!!!! I remember mine...thing NEVER worked even when it was new, lol!
Reply
4-12-2008 @ 11:47AM
Alex said...
Oh, I have a doozie (not the car unfortunately, a problem, lol!).
MBP, Leopard, latest updates, etc, Airport Extreme, latest firmware though problem was experienced with old firmware as well. I have a hard drive attached to the extreme via USB, which I store my large iTunes library on. There's no problem connecting to the library or playing back to my Airport Express (Yep, from Extreme to MBP to Express, lol). The problem occurs when I have to VPN into my University using Cisco's VPN client. The MBP looses sight of the hard drive completely, so its not even an iTunes problem, my shared drive completely disappears from my Mac and I can't remount it even with the manual IP address. As soon as I quit Cisco though I can find it, though sometimes it requires reboots and power cycles, quite annoying!!! And its no fun working in Matlab and not having music :( Any reason why the VPN should be interfering with Airport's shared disk ability?
Reply
4-12-2008 @ 1:31PM
blinkcowz182 said...
Your problem seems to be caused by the VPN tunneling all of your network traffic through your university. In the Cisco utility there should be an option checked "tunnel all traffic" or something similiar. Unchecking this should only tunnel essential network ports and leave your other traffic on your network.
4-12-2008 @ 11:53AM
Ben said...
Question for next week:
I have a bunch of rtf files with a custom extension from a Windows program that lives in Parallels. The files themselves live in the Leopard 10.5.2 area. How can I make Quicklook recognize these files, short of renaming them and rendering them unrecognizable to the Windows program?
Macbook C2D 1.83, 2 Gig ram. 10.5.2
Reply
4-12-2008 @ 12:03PM
andylyons said...
Hi
An easy and FREE way to get a list of files in a folder into a text document is to simply select all the files you want in finder, then drag that selection into an open Textpad file ;-)
You don't get file size/date/type but you do get the file names and full path. Could be good enough for a Video Library.
Also in my opinion Radioshift is a great idea, but let down badly by the database of radio shows, often missing regular serial shows or having wrong time, also quite buggy when I tried it. Would love for a simple and reliable option to be available as a PVR for internet Radio.
Andy ;-)
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4-12-2008 @ 8:24PM
Brandon Martinez said...
Since Mac OS X is UNIX-based, why not just use the terminal?
cd ~/Movies (or whatever directory)
ls -l > ATextFile.txt
You can make it recursive to, which is really cool:
ls -R -l > ATextFile.txt
4-12-2008 @ 8:26PM
Brandon Martinez said...
Oops, I guess I should have read further down the comments, Ross beat me too it :P
4-12-2008 @ 8:26PM
Brandon Martinez said...
to**
4-12-2008 @ 12:04PM
Craig said...
Question:
The company i work for has been taken over/sold twice. So in my Entourage previous recipients list i've got 3 email address for every co-worker, to of which are obsolete. How do i delete the old ones?
Reply
4-12-2008 @ 12:22PM
Ross said...
@Pete re: list of videos
1. Open a Terminal
2. type "cd Movies" (without the quotes, and this is assuming your movie files are in your "Movies" folder)
3. type "ls > movies.txt" (again no quotes)
You'll have a list of all your movies. If you'd like to include the size, date created and permissions, type:
ls -l > movies.txt
Hope this helps.
Reply
4-12-2008 @ 7:36PM
Luigi193 said...
Beat me to it.
4-12-2008 @ 12:28PM
cpb said...
recording radio you could use soundflower + audacity, but this has the downside that it will only record what you're listening to anyhow.
Reply
4-12-2008 @ 12:48PM
CaptSaltyJack said...
I have a question similar to the one about auto-backing up to a mounted flash drive.
I own a Mac Pro, and just recently bought a MacBook Pro. I'd like certain folders on both machines to be sync'd up when the MacBook Pro joins the LAN. On Windows, this is the "Offline Files" feature, where you could take a few folders on the road, make changes to files, then when you hop back on the home LAN, the updated files would sync to the home PC. This way, with the Mac, I could have my iTunes music and iPhoto images in both locations at all times.
Is there any simple way of doing this?
Reply
4-12-2008 @ 1:03PM
DarleenMB said...
iTechWorld ... hold down the option key when you start itunes then tell it where the library is now located. Should solve the the problem.
MY problem is this. I've tried to use ichat with a friend in Canada and he can't hear me. I have a nearly new (as of last Nov) iMac 20" duocore Intel machine. any thoughts? Tips? hints?
Reply
4-12-2008 @ 1:23PM
Ross said...
If you can use ichat with other people, but not this one in particular, the problem is on his/her end, not yours. Have you tested with someone else?
4-12-2008 @ 1:57PM
Larson said...
Ok so I wrote a little script to use as a logout hook that lowers the volume when it's run. The problem is that it's either not being run or it's telling the Finder to lower the volume after the Finder already quit. So when I forget to lower the volume manually, I freak myself out when I turn the computer on and it blasts the startup chime. I figured I'd be able to get it to work with a shell script that would edit a properties list that has the volume setting. So my question is, does a properties list with that setting exist? Or is it hidden somewhere else? There has to be something saved with that info right?
Reply
4-12-2008 @ 6:47PM
joerossell said...
Larson, I use the 'Startup Sound' PrefPane with great success on a couple of machines running 10.5. http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~arcana/index.en.html. You can control the volume, or mute the chime altogether.
4-12-2008 @ 2:43PM
Chris Tucker said...
RE: The Performa 6400
FIRST!!! Troll through eBay for the Sonnet Crescendo 400 or 500 Mhz G3 upgrade card. It plugs into the L2 cache socket. (Make sure it's the version for the 5X00 and 6X00 logic boards!)You install a small Extension and the next time you boot, you are running a G3 processor at 400 or 500 Mhz.
Makes ALL the difference, particularly as you can then run OS 8 and, via OS9 Helper, OS 9.2.1.
Second, get a USB PCI card. Install USB Overdrive, and then get a multibutton/scrollwheel mouse, such as the Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer.
If you can find it cheap enough, the Sonnet Tango USB/FireWire PCI card would be a good choice. Because there is a 2.2 version of iTunes that will happily run under OS 8, if you've an older FireWire iPod, you can sync it via this particular PCI card.
Third, find a suitable Ethernet card for the CommSlot II slot. Ethernet plus DSL equals highspeed goodness.
Fourth, get the needed video I/O card and the TV Tuner card. If you can find it, there is also a TV/FM tuner card.
Finally, if you can find it (and it's hard to come by) there are a few SONY SCSI CD/RW drives that will not only work well in the 6400, but also are boot from a System CD.
Use iCab or the Mozilla based WAMCOM web browsers and you can likely find a recent compatible version of Eudora for email.
Graphic Converter will handle most of your graphic manipulation needs, as will earlier versions of Mac/PowerPC Photoshop.
If you have a digital camera, spend the few dollars and get a USB memory card reader. Most of them will work under OS9 and, I think, under OS8 as well.
Add the Wacom ArtzII graphics tablet, and you'll have a pretty decent graphics workstation.
Check your local Craigslist for free or low cost pre VGA switchover Apple monitors. I don't know if a PCI video card would work in the second PCI slot. Apple made some HUGE monitors that'll be compatible with the video port on the 6400. If you can find one of those, you'll be all set.
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4-13-2008 @ 1:15AM
dRfruitLOOP said...
Thanks for all the tips. I got an old apple ethernet card off of ebay, which plugged in just fine to the comm, but sadly I have no drivers for it, so I kind of hit a brick wall there. I will definitely look into all that other stuff.