Save Music from Websites

Revision as of 20:02, 21 February 2017 by Kipkis (Kipkis | contribs)

(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

There's a whole lot of music out there on the internet, but sites like to make it difficult to download for copyright reasons. Luckily, there are ways to download music tracks from just about every popular music streaming source, from YouTube, to Spotify, to Pandora. If you come across a random website that's playing a song in the background, you can usually find a link to it in the website's source code.

Steps

YouTube and Other Steaming Video Sites

  1. Download and install VLC Player. VLC Player is the easiest way to rip the audio from a YouTube video into MP3 format without any extensions or ad-ridden websites. This is a free, open-source video player that can also capture and convert network streams like YouTube. You can download VLC Player from videolan.org, and this method will work for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Once you've downloaded the audio on your computer, you can transfer it to your music player or smartphone like any other MP3 file.
    • There are sites you can use to convert YouTube videos to MP3 without all of these steps, though they don't always work properly. One of the most popular sites for converting YouTube videos to MP3 is anything2mp3.com.
  2. Copy the URL of the video that you want to get the music from. You can convert the audio of any YouTube video into an MP3 audio file using this method. Make sure that you copy the entire URL.
  3. Open VLC and select "Open Network Stream" from the File menu. This will open a new window.
  4. Paste the YouTube URL into the "Network Protocol" field. You can right-click the field and select "Paste."
  5. Click "Play." The YouTube video will begin playing in VLC. You can pause it for now if you'd like, but don't click Stop or you'll have to re-open the YouTube video.
  6. Click the Tools menu and select "Codec Information." This will open another window.
  7. Right-click the "Location" field and click "Select all." This will highlight the large amount of text in the field.
  8. Right-click the selected text and click "Copy." This will copy the address for the raw video stream of the YouTube video. You can close this window now.
  9. Click the File menu and select "Convert / Save." This will open a new Window much like the Open Network Stream window earlier.
  10. Click the "Network" tab and then paste the copied text into the "Network Protocol" field. This will allow you to convert that raw video into an MP3 file.
  11. Click "Convert / Save" and then select "Audio - MP3" from the "Profile" menu. This will tell VLC to convert the file into an MP3 audio file.
  12. Click "Browse" to name the file and set a location. You can give the file any name you'd like. Make sure to pick a location that is easy to find.
  13. Click "Start" to save your new MP3 file. VLC will begin converting the video stream into an MP3 file. This may take a few moments. Once the conversion is complete, you'll be able to play the MP3 file like any other music file.

SoundCloud

  1. Check for legitimate Download links first. SoundCloud allows artists to give out a limited number of free downloads for tracks. Downloading the music this way if it is still available shows the artist that you support their music. If there are still downloads available for a song, you'll see a "Download" button next to the "Share" button beneath the track.
  2. Install an ad blocker extension (optional). Most of the websites that can rip audio from SoundCloud will have tons of ads, many of which are designed to be misleading. You'll find the download experience much easier if you have an ad blocker installed for your web browser. See Block Internet Ads for instructions on installing an ad blocking extension.
    • You cannot block ads using Microsoft Edge, as it does not support extensions.
  3. Open the SoundCloud song's dedicated page. You'll need to be on the SoundCloud page that only has the song that you want. You won't be able to use this method if you're on an artist's page that has multiple tracks listed. Click the song name to open the song's page.
    • While you can perform these steps using an Android's web browser, you won't be able to do this on an iOS device. If you're trying to get the song onto your iPhone, you'll need to download it on your computer first and then sync it using iTunes.
  4. Open a new tab in your browser. You'll be using a download website to rip the SoundCloud audio and convert it into MP3 format. This is the fastest way to rip SoundCloud audio.
  5. Visit a SoundCloud download site. There are several sites that can download SoundCloud audio in MP3 format. Popular sites include:
    • anything2mp3.com
    • scdownloader.net
    • soundflush.com
  6. Copy the URL for the SoundCloud song page. Make sure to copy the entire URL, and that you're copying the URL for the song's individual page. Select the entire URL, right-click it, and select "Copy."
  7. Paste the URL into the field on the download site. All of the SoundCloud download sites listed above will have a text field in the middle that you can paste the URL into. Right-click in the field and select "Paste" to paste it.
  8. Click the "Download" or "Convert" button. This button will be right next to or below the URL field. Be careful if you're not using an ad blocker, as ads will often disguise themselves as Download buttons.
  9. Download the file. The download process will be a little different depending on the site you're using. The file may begin downloading automatically after a few moments, or you may need to click the new Download button that appears. If the Download button doesn't work, right-click it and select "Save link as."

Spotify

  1. Download Spotify Web Recorder for Windows. This is a free, open-source program made to download tracks you're playing in Spotify. You can use it with both free and premium Spotify accounts. You can download Spotify Web Recorder from spotifywebrecorder.codeplex.com/.
  2. Extract the downloaded ZIP file. Double-click the ZIP file and extract the contents to an easy-to-access folder. You won't be installing the program, and you'll run it directly from the folder.
  3. Download and install Flash Player. You'll need the standalone Flash Player software in order to load the Spotify Web Player in the Recorder program. Visit get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ and download the version for Firefox.
    • Make sure to uncheck the McAfee box before downloading to avoid having your browser homepage changed and an unnecessary toolbar added.
  4. Open the Control Panel. In order for the recorder to work, you'll need to enable the stereo mix as a recording option, as this is usually disabled in Windows by default. You can do this from the Control Panel.[1]
    • Windows 10 and 8 - Right-click the Windows button and select Control Panel.
    • Windows 7 and earlier - Open the Start menu and select Control Panel.
  5. Click "Hardware and Sound" and then "Sound." This will open a new window with your playback devices.
  6. Click the "Recording" tab. All of your recording devices will be listed here.
  7. Right-click on an empty spot on the list and select "Show Disabled Devices." You should see "Stereo Mix" appear.
  8. Right-click on "Stereo Mix" and select "Enable." This will allow the Spotify Web Recorder to record directly from your sound card.
  9. Open the Spotify Web Recorder. now that your recording devices are configured correctly and Flash is installed, you can start the Web Recorder program. You should see the Spotify Web Player load in the main window.
    • If the main window stays blank, click the Refresh button at the top of the program.
  10. Log in with your Spotify account. You can log in with a free or a premium account. Once you're logged in, the web player interface will load in the Spotify Web Recorder window.
  11. Click the "Start Monitoring" button. This will tell the recorder to start listening for music.
  12. Play the music you want to record in the Spotify Web Player. The recorder will detect the song automatically and begin recording it. You'll have to listen to the whole song to record the entire thing. The recorder program will automatically detect the start and end of a song, and label it with the artist and title.
    • The web recorder will record all sounds coming from your computer, so avoid using any programs tat create more sounds while you're recording.
    • If nothing is recording, check the "Settings" tab and ensure that "Stereo Mix" is selected as the recording device.
  13. Find your recorded music. By default, your saved songs will be located in your Music folder. You can change the location in the "Settings" tab of Spotify Web Recorder.
  14. Adjust your volumes. You may find the the music you record is very quiet. There are several different volumes you can adjust as your music is recorded. Play around with the following levels to find the right volume for your recordings:
    • Sound Mixer → Main volume and Application volumes
    • Recording Devices → Stereo Mix → Properties → Recording levels
    • Spotify Web Player volume

Pandora

  1. Open the Pandora website in Chrome. The quickest way to download Pandora tracks is to use Chrome and its built-in development tools. You can do this with a premium account or without logging in.
  2. Right-click the blue background and select "Inspect." The developer tools sidebar will open.
  3. Click the the "Network" tab. This will display network activity for the website.
  4. Click the "Size" column twice. This will sort the results by size, starting with the largest files.
  5. Click the Clear button at the top of the sidebar. This will clear out all of the network content so you can get a fresh start.
  6. Start playing a song in Pandora. You should see entries start appearing in the Network tab.
  7. Find the "audio/mp4" entry. This is the song file for the Pandora song you are currently listening to.
  8. Right-click on the "Name" for the audio entry and select "Open link in new tab." A new Chrome tab will open with a black background and the audio file playing in the built-in audio player.
  9. Right-click in the new tab and select "Save as." You'll be able to give the file a name and choose where you want to save it.
  10. Play your saved audio files. The files will save in M4A format, which you can play in iTunes or VLC Player, or you can convert it to MP3 format. See Convert MP4 Files to MP3 for details.[2]

Website Background MP3s

  1. Open the website that is playing the song you want to download. If you're on a website that is playing a song in the background, there's a good chance that you'll be able to download the music file. This will only work on sites where the file is not encrypted or embedded into another player.
  2. Right-click on the site's background and select "View source." This will open a new tab with the website's source code. Make sure you're not right-click an image or text, or you won't get the correct menu. You can also press Ctrl+U as a shortcut.
  3. Press .Ctrl+F to open the "Find" window. This will let you search for text in the source code.
  4. Type "mp3" into the "Find" field. This will search the source code for "mp3," which is the common extension for music files.
  5. Browse through the results until you find a song with an address. Look through the highlighted results until you see an MP3 file that has a full web address, including http:// or ftp:// at the beginning and .mp3 at the end. The address may be quite long.
    • If you don't get any results for samp.mp3, you can try other common song formats like .m4a or .ogg. If you still don't get results, the song is most likely hidden behind an embedded player or encrypted.
  6. Copy the entire address for the song. Make sure you select the whole thing, then right-click your selection and click "Copy."
  7. Paste the copied address into your browser and load it. The MP3 file should begin playing in your browser's built-in media player in the center of the window. Nothing else will load besides the song.
  8. Right-click on the media player and select "Save as." This will let you save the MP3 file to your computer.
  9. Play your downloaded MP3. AS soon as the MP3 finishes downloading, you can play it or transfer it to your MP3 player or smartphone.

Warnings

  • Downloading music that you don't own may be illegal in your area.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://spotifyrecorder.codeplex.com/documentation?referringTitle=Home
  2. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/2torup/easily_download_songs_from_pandora/
Retrieved from "https://kipkis.com/index.php?title=Save_Music_from_Websites&oldid=6701"