New software is "TiVo for radio"

• A few new software packages that record Internet radio make that possible.
• They all aim to be "TiVo for radio," but the comparison is not quite deserved -- none of them is as easy to use as a TiVo.
• But if you're a radio fan, or getting bored of the same old songs on your iPod, Radiotime ($39.99 for one year), Magix Webradio Recorder ($29.99), or Replay Radio ($49.99) are worth a shot, particularly Replay Radio.
• Radiotime does sell an optional receiver for over-the-air radio for an extra $20, but the main use of all three programs we tested is to record streaming Internet radio.
• For this, you don't need extra hardware.
• The gist of the programs is this: you select which shows to record through a built-in program guide.
• You really need a broadband connection for this to work -- it would be a hassle to make sure a dial-up connection is established every time you want to record something, and in any case, dial-up connections aren't fast enough.
• It has an extensive program guide, which it claims has 25,000 shows.
• Like the TiVo, but unlike the other radio recorders, it allows the user to schedule recordings from another computer.
• Radiotime recorded domestic shows fine for me but trying to record a BBC historical show yielded a broadcast of some mysterious British sport, probably cricket.
• Radiotime's interface is also the most confusing of the three.
• It has a 2,000-channel program guide but the selection is haphazard, with a large proportion of foreign stations, a symptom of the software's German origin.
• _ Replay Radio is the winner in this test, mainly by virtue of its simple interface.
• It's also the only program that helps you find the addresses, or URLs, for audio feeds you want.