timeshift 0.2

A python program for recording Internet radio streams and saving them for later listening

timeshift is a python program for recording Internet radio streams and saving them for later listening (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeshifting). This is “fair use” of the copyrighted material that is being broadcast and is perfectly legal as long as the files are not made publicly available.

Quick Start

$ easy_install timeshift
$ cat << EOF > timeshift.conf
[DEFAULT]
basedir = /tmp
baseurl = http://localhost/tmp

[NPR]
title = "National Public Radio"
url = http://npr.ic.llnwd.net/stream/npr_live24
duration = 60
feedfile = npr.atom
EOF
$ python timeshift.py NPR

Installation

The simplest installation method is to use Python’s easy_install or pip to install the package from PyPI:

pip install timeshift

To install from source, you can clone the project from BitBucket:

hg clone https://bitbucket.org/nmb/timeshift

Configuration

timeshift uses a configuration file by default named timeshift.conf in the current directory. To specify a different file use the --config=FILE option. The configuration file specifies a global location and URL:

[DEFAULT]
basedir = /tmp
baseurl = http://localhost/tmp

where basedir is the local directory where files will be saved and baseurl is the URL where those files can be accessed.

Each source is specified by a separate stanza in the configuration file:

[NPR]
title = "National Public Radio"
url = http://npr.ic.llnwd.net/stream/npr_live24
duration = 60
feedfile = npr.atom

where title is a long name for source, url is the location to record from, duration is the time in seconds to record, and feedfile is the name of the file in basedir to write an Atom feed to (for use with podcasting software).

The url for the source is the location from which to download the stream. This can often be found by downloading the MP3 playlist of the stream and looking for the File1 value inside.

Usage

Simply run the timeshift.py script with the name of the section that you wish to record: python timeshift.py NPR. That will record for the specified number of seconds to a suitably named file in basedir and will add that file to the specified Atom feed in the same directory.

To record at regular intervals, use the cron facility under Unix. For example, to record at 17:00 every saturday you could use the crontab line:

# m h  dom mon dow   command
0 17 * * SAT python /path/to/timeshift.py --config=/path/to/timeshift.conf NPR

Acknowledgments

Timeshift incorporates the Python feedparser library and the rfc3339 module. Thanks to the authors of those projects.

License

Copyright 2013 Neil Martinsen-Burrell <[e-mail]>

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.