'Audacity' editor

[MrGongGong]

Until now I had been using "Total Recorder" to record my music, but for some reason it's stopped working properly, replaying instead a clipped sound at speed. So I've started using Audacity - it'll take me a while to sort it all out.

If recording from the BBC Radio Player, what type of export file would you recommend to use? Would "M4A (AAC) Files (Ffmpeg)" be most appropriate? The size appears large (163MB for Mahler 3), but should I expect this?

Forgive my simplicity, but I'm not a Techie

Don't know about Total Recorder
but I would go for .wav file format (44.1 16 bit is "CD quality" though if you are going to edit and do fades it would be worth going for a higher bit rate such as 24 bit)

[Dave2002]

Flay - how do you do the recordings? Real time with a cable, or do new versions of Total Recorder allow faster recording from some sources? I used to use a cable when I was using TR a lot, and the concerns which mrgg raises, though valid, would have been rather less important than getting rid of the hum and other interference from the cabling. I did comparisons between 192kbps, 256 kbps and 320kbps - and given the sources and link I was using it was very doubtful whether there was much be gained by going up to 320kbps, and even 192kbps was good enough for most material. On reflection I think I often used a compromise data rate between 192 and 256 using VAR encoding.

However mrgg is right to suggest WAV if you can get a good quality connection and want to keep the highest quality you can achieve.

[Stunsworth]

However mrgg is right to suggest WAV if you can get a good quality connection and want to keep the highest quality you can achieve.

If you're going to import the recording into something like iTunes then I'd suggest ALAC (or FLAC for a non-Apple player) would be better. Not only would the files be around half the size of the WAV equivalent, but the file format supports tags - such as Title, Artist, Composer etc.

If you are using a Mac this offers an easy way of downloading programmes from the R3 Radio website...

https://github.com/Ascoware/get-iplayer-automator/releases

[Dave2002]

If you're going to import the recording into something like iTunes then I'd suggest ALAC (or FLAC for a non-Apple player) would be better. Not only would the files be around half the size of the WAV equivalent, but the file format supports tags - such as Title, Artist, Composer etc.

If you are using a Mac this offers an easy way of downloading programmes from the R3 Radio website...

https://github.com/Ascoware/get-ipla...mator/releases

I agree, but Flay has been using Total Recorder which he knows how to use, and possibly was recording in real time. I didn’t want to complicate things further.

[Stunsworth]

I agree, but Flay has been using Total Recorder which he knows how to use, and possibly was recording in real time. I didn’t want to complicate things further.

I realise that, I only mentioned it because I've found it the easiest way to 'record' radio (or TV) programmes. Point the web browser at the page and use the 'Use Current Webpage' button. After saying that the BBC seems to be playing a cat and mouse game of stopping the software from working by making changes to the iPlayer website, this results in the software not working until a new release becomes available.