No "what U hear" option on new Dell E1505?

Hello,

First I would like to thank everyone at the Notebook Review for helping pick out my new notebook for school (I didn't post or register, I just lurked around for a couple months and read reviews).

Second, and the point of this thread, is that until I bought this notebook (Dell E1505) I had a Dimension desktop that had an audio recording feature I loved called "what U hear." Selecting this option allowed you to record whatever audio was currently playing on the computer.

I used this feature all the time to record live streaming Internet presentations and various other bits of audio from the Internet so I could replay them without having to go back on-line.

I cannot find this feature on my new notebook. I even bought the extra creative sound pack option because I knew that was what I had on my old Dimension desktop. Was this feature removed because of piracy issues or I'm I just not looking hard enough for it?

Any answers would be appreciated.

Thanks,
KaleD

 

You're going to have to run a seperate program to get 'record what you hear.'

There's some freeware programs here (haven't tried any tho.)

 

Thanks for the list of programs, but those didn't seem to work. The only options I have for recording are: Microphone and Line in.

I have Windows Xp Professional and Creative WaveStudio but I don't have the ability to record other than the microphone and Line in.

Every other computer I've owned in the past has had either Line out or "What U Hear."

This is really puzzling me.

 

I'm pretty sure you can go into a program like Soundforge or even Sound Recorder and just record whatever you're listening to.

 

Yeah, on my old computers I would be able to do that. I'd go into any recording program and then select the line out/wave out/ "what U hear" option and then I could record what I'm listening to.

On my new Dell notebook I literally do not have any of those options. I have Sigma Tel Audio under the sound devices but the only recording options I have are an external microphone or line in.

No matter what program I use I only have the selection of either Microphone or Line in. This makes it impossible to record what is currently playing on my computer.

I've never had this problem before with any of my old computers.

Does anyone have any suggestions of who to call or what websites to look at? The Sigma Tel Audio website got me absolutely nowhere.

 

I bet the streaming companies like Real, etc, don't like this feature. It's a big hole in DRM (Digital Rights Management...the technology that keeps you from using your own computer...er...from copying things), too. I wouldn't expect newer computers to have it by default.

 

I miss this feature too since I had to sell my desktop to get this notebook, that feature really made somethings easier to get and such. But I think you can't do it on the E1505 because of the inside wiring of the notebook.

 

Yes, it's a useful feature. You can't use it because Dell's default drivers for the E1505 are quite stripped down. Go to LG's software support site http://www.lge.com/support/software.jsp

search for sigmatel under the "notebook" category

download the appropriate driver (the 90 MB or so one worked for me in windows XP... yes 90 MB)

I could then record what I heard in programs like Audacity. Hope this helps, though you probably won't see this information since it's 2008 now but I'm posting this in hopes that someone who stumbles here from a search engine sees this.

Just passing on the knowledge, since I found this information from a search engine.