Using Audacity 2.0 to record web radio

Hi, I’m trying to use Audacity to record web radio but so far I’ve failed spectacularly. In Help > Audio Device Info I get

[pascal@pascaLinux:~/Music/Audacity Examples] $cat audio.info 
==============================
Default capture device number: 4
Default playback device number: 4
==============================
Device ID: 0
Device name: HDA Intel: STAC92xx Analog (hw:0,0)
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0,011610
Low Output Latency: -1,000000
High Input Latency: 0,046440
High Output Latency: -1,000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 1
Device name: HDA Intel: HDMI 0 (hw:0,3)
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 8
Low Input Latency: -1,000000
Low Output Latency: 0,011610
High Input Latency: -1,000000
High Output Latency: 0,046440
Supported Rates:
    32000
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
==============================
Device ID: 2
Device name: sysdefault
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 128
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0,042653
Low Output Latency: -1,000000
High Input Latency: 0,046440
High Output Latency: -1,000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 3
Device name: hdmi
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 8
Low Input Latency: -1,000000
Low Output Latency: 0,011610
High Input Latency: -1,000000
High Output Latency: 0,046440
Supported Rates:
    32000
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
==============================
Device ID: 4
Device name: default
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 32
Output channels: 32
Low Input Latency: 0,011610
Low Output Latency: 0,011610
High Input Latency: 0,046440
High Output Latency: 0,046440
Supported Rates:
    8000
    9600
    11025
    12000
    15000
    16000
    22050
    24000
    32000
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
==============================
Selected capture device: 0 - HDA Intel: STAC92xx Analog (hw:0,0)
Selected playback device: 4 - default
Supported Rates:
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
**Unable to open Portmixer**
[pascal@pascaLinux:~/Music/Audacity Examples] $

This is what I do : I go to BBC - Radio 3.Then in Audacity I select the input source STAC92xx (hw:0,0) line 0 (or 1) and hit the record button. I see a flat line progressing and no waveform at all. Mono or stereo the result is the same except for the extra track in case of stereo. Sometimes the “recording” stops unexpectedly. I played with the Software Playthrough option and the volume controls in the Mixer toolbar too without success.

Music plays just fine and I can still record using the internal mic bat the quality is poor as expected. Note the Unable to open Portmixer message at the end of my audio devices list. Could that be the problem?

Any help is welcome and appreciated as usual.

It turns out sound is more obscure than I thought. I found my answer in a related thread in the Audacity forum View topic - Help needed to set up Audacity 2 for recording web radio. If anyone has similar problems, have a look at the above link.

[SOLVED]

Interesting thread over there. And thanks for posting this here. I guess others can benifitfrom it.

How Can I Record Streaming Audio Online As mp3 Files for Free is a detailed guide that explains how to record streaming song or music using Audacity. Hopefully, it is helpful.