Lincast - Automated Coast to Coast Downloading

Finally.....

This project was meant for GNU/Linux users who listen to Coast to Coast AM and are missing out on the whole "Pod Casting" thing. Lincast is a usable (albeit not so pretty) replacement. At the moment it is a bash script with a usable menu, that will allow you to view descriptions and then download the shows (either from this month or last month). Much nicer than 30-45 minutes of clicking and saving.

What you need to know

So your going to need a few things. You can probably get them all from your distribtions packaging system or you can use the links that I have provided:

bash - If you dont know what this is your probably on the wrong page

lynx - Terminal Browser. I use it to save the cookies.txt file .FYI - you must have PERSISTENT_COOKIES:TRUE set in your /etc/lynx/lynx.cfg in order to save your login information for wget to use.

wget - Package retrieval software



The following list of software is "not essential" to Lincast. You only need it if you wish to re-encode the shows:


mpg123 - I just use this to transcode the orignal mp3 into 22050hz 128kbps wav audio so that it is compatible with my mp3 player. Please read the advisory. I will be pulling any references to this code as soon as possible

lame - Very powerful mp3 encoder

the most important part:


A membership to the streamlink service from "Coast to Coast AM".




A few more things



Everything in the script is divided into functions. One of the functions I used is actually a script written by Christian Garbs called "autolame" and is a way to auto generate mp3's. It is a available along with alot of other resources at:

http://www.cgarbs.de/stuff.en.html

In order to be able to download shows you must first create the cookies.txt file. You can do this by running Lincast and selecting "login and create new cookie file". This will take you to the login page for Coast to Coast AM. Please enter your username/password and select submit. The page will then redirect you to another page. Once you see the cookie transaction take place at the bottom of your screen you can quit out of lynx. This will take you back into the menu and you will now have a cookie file. ;^)

I plan on making an improved ncurses version of this script, followed by a gui based TK/TCL version.

The script is not that difficult to understand, so feel free to improve on it. All I ask is that if you make it much better, you give me a copy to repost up here.

DOWNLOAD IT


Copyright Notice


This Program is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any later version.
This is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
A copy of the GNU General Public License is available as /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL in the Debian GNU/Linux distribution or on the World Wide Web at the GNU General Public Licence. You can also obtain it by writing to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.

Lincast.00.04
Lincast
10.06.06 - October 2006

Niki Pratt nikipratt@gmail.com