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Arlen Holder Arlen   Holder is offline
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Default Typical first pass tutorial process on Windows 10 where NONE of the extent how to articles actually tell you what you really need to do!

Typical first pass tutorial process on Windows 10
where NONE of the extent how to articles actually
tell you what you actually really need to do!

Here's what happened...

1. I read this post about an hour or so ago on the a.c.f newsgroup:
o The nice thing about Audacity
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.comp.freeware/S1IXPT3xk7g
Which says this one line:
"It can record the music from a youtube live stream."

2. Being infinitely curious about all tool functionality, I tried
Audacity but failed even after reading a dozen web tutorials.

3. In the end, Audacity worked - but the point I'm making is that
absolutely NONE of the tutorials explained the _necessary_
missing step (which is apparently required only on newer versions
of Windows 10 as explained below).

NOTE: If you're NOT on the later versions of Windows 10, most of the
tutorials "should" work; but this is an example where they don't.

=== below is my ad hoc log just now attempting to do this ===
a. Googling for tutorials, here what I try (all failed), in sequence:
https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001137.htm
https://www.aimersoft.com/record-music/audacity-youtube.html
https://www.labnol.org/software/record-streaming-audio/5000/
https://audacityguide.com/audacity-records-computer-audio
https://audacity.wonderhowto.com/how-to/record-streaming-audio-from-internet-with-audacity-296750/
https://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/how-to-capture-save-record-or-download-streaming-audio-for-free/
https://www.widsmob.com/tips/capture-youtube-audio.html (worthless)
https://www.easeus.com/screen-recording-tips/record-youtube-audio.html
https://davescomputertips.com/how-to-record-internet-audio-with-audacity/

Note: Not only do they all omit important information, they conflict.
This is the key reason why most tutorials suck.

b. Find a short YouTube test video to record the audio stream of.
o Bill Gates Remembers Richard Feynman - Bill Gates - 5/11/2018
https://youtu.be/HotLmqYFKKg

Test that you "can" download just the M4A audio from that URL:
youtube-dl.exe -f 140 https://youtu.be/HotLmqYFKKg
[youtube] HotLmqYFKKg: Downloading webpage
[youtube] HotLmqYFKKg: Downloading MPD manifest
[dashsegments] Total fragments: 15
[download] Destination: Bill Gates Remembers Richard Feynman - Bill Gates - 5_11_2018-HotLmqYFKKg.m4a
[download] 100% of 2.08MiB in 01:57
[ffmpeg] Correcting container in "Bill Gates Remembers Richard Feynman - Bill Gates - 5_11_2018-HotLmqYFKKg.m4a"

move "Bill Gates Remembers Richard Feynman - Bill Gates - 5_11_2018-HotLmqYFKKg.m4a" gates_feynman.m4a
Name: gates_feynman.m4a
Size: 2174708 bytes (2123 KiB)
SHA256: 748707B94311B10B19E45EAB99DEE3495E36BC91BDA062B3C5 02DDF1AD1B720B

Doubleclick on the audio to ensure it plays (VLC, MPC-BE, WMP, whatever).

c. Install Audacity from the canonical site only (caveat emptor):
https://sourceforge.net/projects/audacity/
https://www.audacityteam.org/
https://www.audacityteam.org/download/
https://www.audacityteam.org/download/windows/
https://www.fosshub.com/Audacity.html
https://download.fosshub.com/gibberish/audacity-2.4.2.zip
Save to X:\archive\editor\audio\audacity\audacity-2.4.2.zip
Name: audacity-2.4.2.zip
Size: 11713880 bytes (11 MiB)
SHA256: 0C14F7C6850C93B9DACC14FE66876B8DC3397D92DBD8498987 83A21BAD1FFF55
Extract to c:\app\editor\audio\audacity\{...files...}
Name: audacity.exe
Size: 12676096 bytes (12 MiB)
SHA256: 02239A8C897496BA9F03AC967AF2CA5A03221BE83D8E733909 7EDBFFC2B96E37
Compare hash with that on the web site:
https://www.audacityteam.org/download/online-safety-when-downloading/#validate
Create a shortcut:
FILESPEC c:\menu\editor\audio\audacity.lnk
TARGET C:\app\editor\audio\audacity\audacity.exe
STARTIN %appdata%\0 (which doesn't exist)
COMMENT Audacity

d. Do we still need to install LAME and/or FFMPEG separately?
I don't know.
This just loops back to the Audacity web site:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/audacity/?s=install&i=lame-mp3

e. The "Stereo Mix" option "may" not be available if you do not have an
external sound card (i.e., in an expansion slot) versus an integrated
sound card (i.e., on the motherboard). I happen to have an expansion
card mounted GeForce 210 graphics card & AMD integrated graphics GPU
on the motherboard (i.e., I have both types).

f. Start Audacity & check the version so we're on the same version:
taskbar menu editor audio audacity
Audacity:Help About Audacity == Audacity 2.4.2

g. Check that you "can" record as you'll need "Stereo Mix":
Audacity:Edit Preferences Devices Recording
Device: [?]
Channels: [?]
Mine said "No devices found" & nothing else was in the drop down entry.

h. Set the computer so that you "can" record via "Stereo Mix":
Win+R control View by: Category
Hardware and sound Sound Playback
Make sure that the Speakers are checked with a green checkmark.
Hardware and sound Sound Recording
Rightclick in a blank area & check "Show Disabled Devices"
Mine said: Stereo Mix, Realtek High Definition Audio, Disabled
When I rightclicked to set that to "Enabled" I got a notification:
"Your privacy settings blocked access to the microphone"
(It went away before I could click on the settings though.)
Close & restart Audacity and "Stereo Mix (Realtek High Definiti)"
shows up where it didn't show up before.

You should now have:
Audacity:Edit Preferences Devices Recording
Device: [Stereo Mix (Realtek High Defini)]
Channels: [2 (Stereo)]

Press OK to close the preferences menu setup.

i. In your favorite browser, start playing the YouTube video:
https://youtu.be/HotLmqYFKKg

j. In Audacity, attempt to record the video that is now playing:
Audacity:Transport Recording Record
I got:
Error
Error opening recording device.
Error code: -9999 Unanticipated host error.

k. So I switched off the VPN and tried again but got the same error.
I should note I don't have a microphone, but the speaker plays youtube.

l. Some tutorials say to set it to MME & others to WASAPI but both fail:
Audacity:Edit Preferences Devices Host:
(Mine was set to [MME])
Change that to: [Windows WASAPI]
It still fails.

m. Look up the colors of the 1/8th-inch stereo ports on my motherboard:
Pink = Microphone in
Blue Stereo in
Green Speaker out

n. One option I tried was to connect a 1/8th-inch stereo male-to-male
loopback cable into the green (headphone out) & pink (mic in) ports.
But it still failed.

o. Giving up on the lousy tutorials, I resort to googling the error.
(bearing in mind I do NOT have a microphone)
https://github.com.cnpmjs.org/audacity/audacity/issues/663
https://appuals.com/audacity-error-code-9999-unanticipated-host-error/
https://www.windowsdispatch.com/fix-audacity-error-code-9999-unanticipated-host/
https://www.drivereasy.com/knowledge/fix-audacity-error-opening-sound-device-issue/
https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001194.htm
https://www.techjunkie.com/audacity-error-opening-sound-device-how-to-fix/
https://sourceforge.net/p/audacity/mailman/message/36531828/
Possibilities (according to the above cites)
a. Microphone access is restricted.
b. Antivirus conflict
c. Skype/Zoom conflict
d. Ensure the external sound device is plugged in (desktop only)
e. Ensure the external sound device is enabled
f. Ensure audio device settings in Audacity are configured correctly
g. Turn off Software Playthrough in Audacity
h. Update the audio driver
i. Restart the Windows Audio Endpoint Builder service

Win+R ms-settingsrivacy-microphone
Turn everything on that you can.

p. Now go back & play the video without VPN and press the Audacity "Record"
Let it finish in 2:14 minutes & watch the pretty blue waveforms scroll.
Then press the square Audacity "Stop" button.

Note: I do NOT have a microphone, nor am I using the loopback cable;
but I do have a 1/8th-inch jack tying the motherboard (green) output
to a powered speaker on my desktop.

q. Save it.
Audacity:File Export Export as MP3 untitled.mp3
The good news is we apparently no longer need LAME/FFMPEG nowadays.

Name: untitled.mp3
Size: 3256048 bytes (3179 KiB)
SHA256: 18228637C3B052AE74556DAE78E9270AD01FA544F0A2A70DF9 0E5919943470B2
=== above is my ad hoc log just now attempting to do this ===
--
This is posted as an example of the fact that most tutorials don't work.