How to Download Streaming Music on Mac and PC

In addition to downloading or ripping audio, recording is a popular and great way to capture streaming music tracks on your computer, especially now that more and more streaming music services do not allow you to download their music files directly.

For whatever reason, you may have the demand to capture a specific audio track online, no matter it's a streaming song, video game sound, audio podcast, etc. To record online streaming music, you'll first pick up a proper music recorder. To save time for you, we have now gathered some effective streaming music recorders for your reference, which can download streaming music and audio on your Windows or Mac computer.

Part 1. How to Download Streaming Music via TunesKit Audio Capture

When capturing audio, the biggest consideration you may worry about would probably be the audio quality, right? Generally speaking, unlike direct downloading, recording audio is more likely to cause quality loss during the process. Besides, if your computer makes a noise while recording a music track, then the interference will also be captured in the track too. But don't worry. The streaming audio recorder we are going to share here has perfectly solved the above concerns, which is TunesKit Audio Capture.

Unlike most other audio recorders that adopt traditional recording technology, this top-leading streaming audio recording software can not only losslessly record any streaming music and audio but also automatically capture all tracks individually at the same time, meaning you can capture multiple playing tracks simultaneously(when the audio sources are opened via a browser), and all the audio recordings will divide into independent tracks without mixing together.

Moreover, with this powerful streaming audio recorder, you can get the recorded audio with ID3 tags preserved and save them in MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC, M4A, and M4B on your Windows or Mac computer.

You can download the free trial version and follow the step-by-step tutorial below on how to record streaming audio and music.

Step 1Set up Audio Preference

You are able to preset the audio parameters before starting a recording. Click on the Format button at the bottom right to open the settings. Here you can change the output format, codec, channel, sample rate, and bit rate.

Step 2Add Audio Source and Download Audio

After launching TunesKit Audio Capture, you'll notice a list of programs displayed in the main interface. If the program that you want to record audio from is not listed there, simply click the + button to add it.

Click on the program you just added from the TunesKit Audio Capture main interface. Then access a music website to play the songs that you want to record. TunesKit Audio Capture will record the audio automatically. When you finish, click on the Stop button.

Step 3Save and Locate Streaming Audio Recordings

After the editing, you should save the recorded streaming audio. Tap the Save button and all tracks will be shown in the History list. You can also locate the local folder by hitting the Search icon at the rear of each track.

Part 2. How to Save Streaming Music for Free via Audacity

The third way you can download streaming music on Windows and Mac computers is to use Audacity, a free open-source audio recorder popular with novices and professionals alike, enabling you to quickly record any kind of audio you want, including streaming music. On top of that, Audacity is also a free audio editor. After you've recorded music, you can use basic editing tools such as trim, cut, copy, paste, delete, and more. It also offers a variety of sound effects and audio plugins, and you can add other audio plugins manually.

Step 1: Open Audacity on your computer. On the main interface, click on the Audio Setup button to choose your preferred Audio Host, Playback Device, Recording Device, and others. You can also leave them to the default mode.

Step 2: Open your target stream music but don't play it first. Go to Audacity, click the Record button, then play the streaming audio. Audacity will immediately start recording the streaming music. When the music is finished, click on the Stop button.

Step 3: The finished recorded music track will be displayed in the main interface. At this point, you can edit and export the music. To save the streamed music, hit File > Export > Export as ..., and then follow the on-screen instructions to finish saving.

Part 3. How to Record Streaming Music on Mac Using QuickTime Player

In addition to using TunesKit Audio Capture to record streaming music on Mac, a pre-install program call QuickTime Player is also available to do so. Many of you may be more familiar with QuickTime Player in its other capacity as a media player, but it actually has the ability to record audio as well. With this tool, you can download streaming music on Mac with ease. Here are the steps for your reference.

Step 1: Launch QuickTime Player on your Mac computer. Go to File and click on New Audio Recording.

Step 2: The recording tool will be shown on the screen. Open the streaming music that you want to record, and click on the Record button on QuickTime Player to start recording music on Mac.

Step 3: When the music ends, click on the button again to finish the recording. And you can export the streaming music recording by clicking on File > Save.

Part 4. How to Record Streaming Audio Online Free with Apowersoft Free Online Audio Recorder

In case you want to download streaming audio online for free, we offer you a trustworthy online audio recorder, Apowersoft Free Online Audio Recorder. This tool allows you to select the source from which you want to record music, such as the entire screen, desktop software, or a single browser tab. After finishing recording, it supports saving the recorded audio tracks as MP3. But the flaw is that it does not have an audio editor.

Step 1: Get ready for the streaming music source that you want to record. Open a browser and access Apowersoft Free Online Audio Recorder.

Step 2: Click Start Recording > System Audio, and then select the audio source you just opened, then hit Share.

Step 3: After a three-second countdown, the tool will start recording mode. Now you can play the music and let it be recorded. When the music is done, tap the Stop button.

Step 4: You can preview the recorded streaming audio on this page, and hit the Save button to export it to your local file.

Part 5. How to Record Online Music with Chrome Audio Capture Extension

Google Chrome has a handy audio recording extension, called Chrome Audio Capture. It works for recording audio from Chrome, including streaming music from the online players of various music streaming services. You should note that this tool can only record music played by the current Chrome tab, and cannot capture audio outside of the Chrome tab.

Step 1: Open Chrome Web Store and search for Chrome Audio Capture, then add it to the Chrome extension.

Step 2: After that, open a new tab and find out the streaming music that you want to capture. Tap the Chrome Audio Capture icon in the Extensin list and hit Start Capture.

Step 3: When the music is finished, click on Save Capture, and it will show you a new page for you to preview the recording. Tap the Save Capture button again to download this streaming music recording.

Conclusion

These are our six effective streaming music recorders for you. With them, you can easily download streaming music, especially TunesKit Audio Capture, which enables you to record streaming music with ID3tags and other computer audio in original sound quality and export your recorded audio in six music formats. In short, pick the audio recorder you like and start recording the audio on your computer.