First I was inclined to pay but later I learned that my favorite radio program - the Howard Stern show - was going to a pay medium, called satellite radio, which in turn meant that they would most certainly get rid of those annoying 15 minute commercial breaks. Stern was openly advertising his move promising "almost no commercials". I waited. When the show had moved to the satellite radio and I listened to the first dozen broadcasts I realized that the promise was not fulfilled in any way advertised. Although the Howard Stern show contained more of uncensored and raunchy stuff, the size of the breaks did not shrink at all. Now instead of pre-recorded commercials Stern was reading them live followed by repetition of some old bids and prank calls that I heard over and over before. Since I was already paying for the satellite radio subscription I decided to go ahead and finish my own radio recording project that I called "Simple Radio Recorder" and later added "& Scheduler" to perform tasks on schedule pretty much like TiVo does with TV broadcasts.

With my new invention now I was able to do the following:

• Set the time at night to record the Stern Show as it was broadcast live. The benefit of recording live was obvious. Even though the Stern show was repeated during the day I have witnessed at times that their editing staff were removing parts from live broadcasts that they considered inappropriate. That was inappropriate for me too;
• I live on the West Coast and the show is starting there at 3 a.m. and ending approximately at 8 a.m., which made it impossible to listen live. Setting the program to record the show unattended at night made it pretty convenient for me;
• When I usually come home from work I would have a ready recording of the whole show live which I could listen to at my convenience at any time later;
• The Simple Radio Recorder & Scheduler will produce a compact MP3 file that I can play back with my favorite digital player - whether its Windows Media Player or WinAmp, or even an iPod or any other portable player;
• I could easily skip through commercial breaks and repetitions of their previous bids and old AC/DC songs that were played galore. I could listen to the parts I wanted to hear and skip the segments I didn't care about. I could also replay the most interesting moments, like roasts and hookers on the Sybian :)

I was using this program for myself almost every day until my friend pointed out that I need to share it with him. That is how this project was born.

• Recording of the AM/FM, satellite radio broadcasts*, as well as sound from your stereo system, Boom-box, TV, Internet radio and computer software and games;
• Easy-to-understand step-by-step explanation of how to buy and install necessary hardware**;
• Ability to record in MP3 and uncompressed PCM formats;
• Setting schedule for unattended recording of any length;
• Possibility to wake system up from standby mode or hibernation at scheduled time for recording;
• Setting other scheduled events like running programs, opening files and playing music, as well as sending the system into suspended state;
• Playing back of the live sound broadcast;
• Running from a command line to maximize potential application;
• And best of all - it is FREE if you register your copy within first 30 days!

* - Satellite radio receiver and antenna are required. Subscription to a satellite service is required to receive satellite radio broadcasts.
** - Minimum hardware installation is required to begin recording of the sound input.
 

• Any Sound Card for sound input;
• Speakers for sound playback (not critical for recording);
• Minimum required CPU: Pentium III 500+ MHz, or compatible;
• Minimum required RAM: 512MB;
• Hardware support for ACPI in case of use of suspended power state (not critical for recording).