fbar> Use "radio" to tune in the channel you want to record, then fbar> use "ecasound" to record directly to ogg/mp3, all this can be fbar> controlled by a cronjob. I finally had time to try your suggestion ... Among other commands, I used the following after first "turning on" the radio: % ecasound -i:alsa -o radio.wav This produced a file containing constant values (== silence when played with 'xmms'). My hunch is I've not specified the correct ALSA "device". I checked some of the ALSA docs, the output of 'dmesg', and looked around within 'alsamixergui', but don't really know what to do. Note that the output of the radio/tv card is connected with a wire to the (line?) input of the SBL! audio card. Thanks for the help! -Kenneth