Ask the Doctor: Pluggin' the Analog Hole
Ask the Doctor: Pluggin' the Analog Hole
Posted 06/29/2009 at 5:28pm
| by The Maximum PC Staff
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On my old Windows XP PC, I used Audacity to record music, etc., from the Internet with great results.
Recently I bought a Dell XPS 420 with Windows Vista 64-bit and now Audacity (or even the PC’s Creative Sound recording software) can’t record any audio. I came across some related forums and tried a couple of suggestions (check disabled items on the Sound properties, etc.), which haven’t worked.
In XP I used the Stereo Mix setting in Audacity but in Vista I don’t have that option. And recording from the mic isn’t an option, either. Is this a Vista “feature”? If so, how can I record audio from the Internet? Vista has grown on me so I’d rather not downgrade to XP.
—Suleman
You’ve got it, Suleman. Recording from the soundcard is disabled in Vista to prevent people from gettin’ music for free by taking advantage of the “analog hole”—that is, recording real-time sound output rather than actually duplicating files.
Sounds like you’ve already tried enabling disabled devices, the usual fix, so we don’t have any further advice. On the bright side, music subscription services like Rhapsody let you download from a selection of millions of songs for a small monthly fee (and keep them as long as you have your subscription), while Internet radio stations like Pandora, last.fm, and Slacker.com let you listen for free.
Update - Second Opinion: In April, you advised reader Suleman that there was no easy way for him to use his soundcard to record music from the Internet in Vista (“Plugging the Analog Hole”). Ask him if he has an old PC that can still access the Internet. I use one with a 600MHz CPU, 256KB of RAM, and an 8GB hard drive with Windows XP home. This is quite adequate for listening to music and surfing the net using DSL.
Connect the line-out jack from the Internet computer to the line-in jack of the machine running Audacity. Windows can’t tell whether the analog signal arriving at the line-in jack comes from the Internet, a radio, or an old vinyl LP. --Frank
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Trooper_One
June 30, 2009 at 11:17am
How about using an mp3 player with recording capability and a m-m stereo cord and click record when playing? Quality won't be as good but it's there.
Also, why not just keep your old PC for this purpose? If not, just look on craigslist and find some cheap old system with XP on.
scottwed
June 30, 2009 at 5:42am
I can vouch that it's not Vista blocking the loopback recording. I've had to go through the very painful experience of converting my own Webex recordings from their proprietary format back to a standard avi format (The newer Webex supplied .wmv conversion tools produce garbage, or fail completely).
After a lot of research, it appears that this capability is disabled on purpose. If you subscribe to conspiracy theories, RIAA/MPAA has asked computer manufacturers to disable this feature. (Lenovo does this, among others). Enforcement used to be purely done by customized drivers (hackable), but on some notebooks it's also disabled in hardware (hacked drivers=blue screen).
There is a software solution, but you need to ensure that computer isn't disturbed by other I/O demands. If disturbed you will get pops and skips. VMWare isn't real-time enough to keep up for extended periods.
It's also not free, but Virtual Audio Cable does simulate a sound card enabling you to connect a "virtual" cable between the real sound card's output channel and the virtual card's input. It's a bit confusing to setup, but the trial mode is sufficient to prove it's functioning.
http://software.muzychenko.net/eng/vac.html
To my knowledge, Sound Blaster cards all still have this capability enabled. One of the few compelling reasons to consider an addon sound card over the built-in ones.
Yusonice
June 29, 2009 at 8:19pm
Why not use limewire?
Or go playlist.com to listen to free music. And if u use Download Helper extention in firefox, u can download the songs that are playing on a website.
Im_not_Herbert
June 29, 2009 at 7:47pm
I have been using Total Recorder for years now. Works on Vista no problem. Basically, if you can hear it through your speakers, you can record it, in whatever format your heart desires, providing you have the codec.
It is not a free program, but it is cheap and you get free upgrades forever.
www.totalrecorder.com
GIJames
June 29, 2009 at 6:35pm
At least with my Creative X-fi Fatal1ty soundcard, I can record fine in Vista 32 bit from the creative "what u hear" source with Audacity for any sound played through the speaker outputs, which includes internet music. I suspect the same goes for most other 3rd party soundcards as well. As an alternative to getting a soundcard, just putting a 3.5mm male-male headphone cable from the headphone port to the microphone port should work fine.
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