Downloading WMA from a web site w/Javascript

[Tom Haughton]

To make better use of my commuting time I want to download audio files from
websites such as:

http://freshair.npr.org/day_fa.jhtml?displayValue=day&todayDate=02/27/2004

for listening to them during my commute. Right clicking 'Save Target As'
brings up a dialog box that says:

IE cannot download from ...27-Feb-2004', '2','RM,WM');. IE was not able to
open this Internet site. The requested site is either unavailable or cannot
be found. Please try again later.

Windows Media Player gives the property of the file as:

http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=FA&showDate=27-Feb-2004&segNum=2&NPRMediaPref=WM

I created my own html page with a link to that:

<P><A
HREF="http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode =FA&amp;showDat e=27-Feb-2004&amp
;segNum=2&amp;N PRMediaPref=WM" NAME="FreshAir" >Audio</A></P>

whereas 'right clicking - save target as' brings up the 'Save As' dialog box
with file type Windows Media Audio Shortcut.

Is it possible to extract this file or is it only available in streaming
form?

There is software that can record any audio you computer plays but that
would be just about as time consuming as you would have to be at your
computer to babysit the recording process.

Any help on this would greatly be appreaciated.

Thanks,

Tom Haughton

[Grant Wagner]

Re: Downloading WMA from a web site w/Javascript

Tom Haughton wrote:
[color=blue]
> To make better use of my commuting time I want to download audio files from
> websites such as:
>
> http://freshair.npr.org/day_fa.jhtml...ate=02/27/2004
>
> for listening to them during my commute. Right clicking 'Save Target As'
> brings up a dialog box that says:
>
> IE cannot download from ...27-Feb-2004', '2','RM,WM');. IE was not able to
> open this Internet site. The requested site is either unavailable or cannot
> be found. Please try again later.[/color]

This is because the author of the site is making improper use of <a href="javascrip t:..."
....>. Or perhaps they intended this behaviour to try to prevent users from downloading the
audio to their PCs. Regardless, the behaviour you are seeing is a great argument for not
using <a href="javascrip t:..." ...>.
[color=blue]
> I created my own html page with a link to that:
>
> <P><A
> HREF="http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode =FA&amp;showDat e=27-Feb-2004&amp
> ;segNum=2&amp;N PRMediaPref=WM" NAME="FreshAir" >Audio</A></P>
>
> whereas 'right clicking - save target as' brings up the 'Save As' dialog box
> with file type Windows Media Audio Shortcut.[/color]

Right, because you've now created a normal link that IE can "Save As".
[color=blue]
> Is it possible to extract this file or is it only available in streaming
> form?[/color]

That's entirely dependant on the technology used to stream/make the resource available. If
the resource is streamed, then no, you can't "Save As" it.
[color=blue]
> There is software that can record any audio you computer plays but that
> would be just about as time consuming as you would have to be at your
> computer to babysit the recording process.[/color]

Yes there is. And if you want to record streaming audio, this is the way you have to do it.



Aside from an initial reference to the improper use of <a href="javascrip t:..." ...>, this
is seriously off-topic for comp.lang.javas cript.

--
Grant Wagner <gwagner@agrico reunited.com>
comp.lang.javas cript FAQ - http://jibbering.com/faq