Audio Download Manager is a small program that downloads radio show audio files from several websites and saves them into organized folders on your computer. It does the clicking, waiting, and filing-away for you so you don't have to.
This guide explains everything in plain language. If you can send an email, you can use this program.
- What This Program Does
- What You Need Before You Start
- First-Time Setup (Important)
- The Main Screen - Every Button Explained
- The Download Log
- Where Your Files Go
- Automatic Scheduled Downloads
- Troubleshooting
The program downloads audio files from five different sources, each one a radio show or feature:
| Source | What it is | How it downloads |
|---|---|---|
| Melinda Myers | Short gardening tips (one for each weekday) | From the Melinda Myers website |
| Northwest Outdoors | A weekly outdoor radio show | From a Dropbox shared link (a ZIP file) |
| Whittler | A radio show split into four parts | From a Dropbox shared link (a ZIP file) |
| Clear Out West | A radio show with several tracks | From the Clear Out West website (needs a password) |
| Weekend In The Country | A radio show with segments and a promo | From an FTP server (needs a username and password) |
The program opens a hidden Firefox web browser in the background, visits each website, clicks the download buttons, waits for the files to finish, then renames and sorts them into the right folders. You don't have to click anything on the websites yourself.
There is also a special Download Promo button that downloads just the promo file from Northwest Outdoors and adds a short audio "tag" (like a station jingle) onto the end of it.
These are one-time things to set up. Once done, you usually never have to touch them again.
The program uses Firefox to visit the download websites. If you don't already have Firefox installed, download it for free from https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/ and install it normally.
You do not need to open Firefox yourself. The program opens it automatically when needed and closes it when finished.
The "Download Promo" feature uses a free tool called FFmpeg to blend a short jingle onto the end of the promo audio. If you never use Download Promo, you can skip this.
If you do want the promo tag feature, FFmpeg must be installed on your computer and available on your system PATH. Ask whoever set up your computer to install it, or follow a guide for "installing FFmpeg on Windows." If it is missing, the promo will still download fine, just without the tag added.
You will need:
- The Clear Out West password (for the Clear Out West source)
- The Weekend In The Country FTP server address, username, and password
- The Dropbox shared links for Northwest Outdoors and Whittler (these
look like
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/...)
If you don't have these, the program will tell you which ones are missing when you try to download.
The very first time you run the program, you should check your settings. This only takes a minute and makes sure everything downloads to the right place.
- Open the program (double-click
AudioDownloader.exe). - Look at the top-right corner of the window. You will see a small gear icon (it looks like this: a little wheel). Click it.
- A Settings window opens with four tabs across the top: General, Paths, Auth, and URLs.
Go through each tab below.
This tab controls where files are saved and how the program behaves.
-
Output Directory - This is the main folder where all your downloaded audio ends up. Inside this folder, the program creates two sub-folders automatically: one called "Global Features" and one called "Promos" (see Where Your Files Go below). You can type a folder path here, or click the Browse button next to it to pick a folder using the normal folder picker. The default is a folder called
downloadsnext to the program itself. -
Auto-close browser after downloads - A small box you can check or uncheck. When checked (the default), the program closes the hidden Firefox browser automatically when a download finishes. Leave this checked unless you have a reason not to. If you uncheck it, Firefox stays open in the background after each download and you would have to close it yourself.
-
Retry Attempts - A number from 0 to 5. This tells the program how many extra times to try again if a download fails (for example, if a website is slow or temporarily down). The default is 2, which means it tries up to 3 times total (the first try plus 2 retries). If your internet is unreliable, you might raise this to 3 or 4. Setting it to 0 means it only tries once with no retries.
This tab is for special file locations. Most people can leave these alone, but here is what each one means.
-
Tag File - This is the short audio jingle file (a
.wavfile) that gets blended onto the end of the Northwest Outdoors promo. If you leave this blank, the program looks for a file calledNWKORVTAG.wavinside your Promos folder. If you have your tag file somewhere else, click the ... button to find and select it. Only needed if you use the Download Promo button. -
Browser Download Dir - This is a temporary "holding" folder where Firefox saves files while they are downloading, before the program moves them to their final home. You normally never look in this folder. The default is a folder called
browser_downloadsnext to the program. You can change it with the Browse button if needed, but there is rarely a reason to.
This tab holds your passwords and login details. These are stored only on your own computer in a settings file next to the program. They are never sent anywhere except to the websites they belong to.
-
Clear Out West Password - The password for the Clear Out West website. Type it in. It will show as dots (hidden) so nobody can read it over your shoulder. Without this, the Clear Out West download will not work.
-
WITC FTP Server - The server address for Weekend In The Country (for example,
ftp.example.com). Get this from the show provider. -
WITC FTP Username - The username for the Weekend In The Country FTP server.
-
WITC FTP Password - The password for the Weekend In The Country FTP server. Shows as dots.
If you don't use the Weekend In The Country source, you can leave its three fields blank. But if you ever click that download button, it will fail until you fill them in.
This tab holds the Dropbox shared links for two of the sources.
-
Northwest Outdoors - Paste the Dropbox shared link for Northwest Outdoors here. It should look like
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/.... Get this link from the show provider. If this still saysYOUR_LINK_HERE, the Northwest Outdoors download will not work. -
Whittler - Paste the Dropbox shared link for Whittler here, the same way. If it still says
YOUR_LINK_HERE, the Whittler download will not work.
When you are done with all four tabs, click the Save button at the bottom. You will see a small message saying "Settings saved successfully!" Click OK, and the settings window closes.
If you change your mind and don't want to save, click Cancel instead and nothing will be changed.
When you open the program, you see the main window. From top to bottom:
This opens the Settings window described above. You can change your settings any time, even in the middle of downloads.
This is the big button near the top. Click it to download all five sources one after another: Melinda Myers, Northwest Outdoors, Whittler, Clear Out West, and Weekend In The Country. The program goes through them in order. You will see the progress bar move and the status text change as each one starts and finishes.
When everything is done, a small summary window pops up telling you how many succeeded and listing any that failed. Click OK to close it.
This is the button you will use most often. It does the whole week's downloads in one go.
This downloads only the Northwest Outdoors promo file and adds the audio tag (jingle) onto the end of it. Use this when you only need the promo, not the full shows. It is a separate button because promos are usually needed on a different day than the full shows.
Note: This needs the Tag File setting (see the Paths tab above) and FFmpeg installed. If either is missing, the promo still downloads but without the tag.
Below the two big buttons, you see a label "Downloads:" and then a list of five buttons, one for each source:
- Melinda Myers - Downloads only the Melinda Myers gardening tips.
- Northwest Outdoors - Downloads only the Northwest Outdoors show (the full show files, not the promo).
- Whittler - Downloads only the Whittler show.
- Clear Out West - Downloads only the Clear Out West show.
- Weekend In The Country - Downloads only the Weekend In The Country show.
Use these when you only want one specific show instead of all of them. Clicking one of these does exactly the same thing as the big "Download Global Features" button, but for just that one source.
The thin blue bar below the buttons fills up from left to right as a download progresses. When it reaches the right side, the download is done. It resets to empty a couple of seconds after each download finishes.
Just below the progress bar, a line of text tells you what is happening right now, for example "Downloading Monday..." or "Done - Melinda Myers completed!" or "FAIL - Whittler failed." This is your quick at-a-glance status.
The big box at the bottom labeled "Download Log" shows a running list of everything the program is doing, with a time stamp on each line. It scrolls automatically so the newest message is always visible.
You don't need to read this normally. It is there so that if something goes wrong, you (or whoever helps you) can look back and see exactly what happened and when.
If a download fails, the log will usually say why, for example "Error: cow_password not configured" or "No downloaded file found after waiting."
All your finished audio files end up inside the Output Directory you set in the General settings tab. Inside it, the program creates two sub-folders automatically:
Your Output Directory/
Global Features/
MMMON.mp3 (Melinda Myers - Monday)
MMWED.mp3 (Melinda Myers - Wednesday)
MMFRI.mp3 (Melinda Myers - Friday)
MMTUE.mp3 (Melinda Myers - Tuesday)
MMTHU.mp3 (Melinda Myers - Thursday)
Whittler1.mp3 (Whittler - Part A)
Whittler2.mp3 (Whittler - Part B)
Whittler3.mp3 (Whittler - Part C)
Whittler4.mp3 (Whittler - Part D)
COW1.mp3 ... (Clear Out West tracks)
COWPROMO.mp3 (Clear Out West promo track)
WITC_HR1_PT1.mp3 (Weekend In The Country - Hour 1, Part 1)
WITC_PROMO.mp3 (Weekend In The Country promo)
...and the Northwest Outdoors show files
Promos/
...the Northwest Outdoors promo file (with tag added)
- Global Features holds all the full show files and regular features.
- Promos holds promo files, including the Northwest Outdoors promo with the tag blended onto the end.
The program renames the files automatically so they always have consistent, predictable names. You never have to rename anything yourself.
If you want the program to run by itself on a schedule (so you don't have to remember), there are two ready-made files included:
download_global_features.bat- Runs "Download Global Features" (all five sources). Meant to be scheduled for Thursdays at 11:00 PM.download_promos.bat- Runs "Download Promo" only. Meant to be scheduled for Tuesdays at 11:00 PM.
These are small files that simply tell the program to run in automatic mode without opening the window.
To set up the schedule on Windows, you use a built-in tool called Task Scheduler. This is a bit more technical, so you may want to ask whoever helps you with your computer to set it up. Once it is set up, the program will download everything by itself overnight on the right days, and the files will be waiting for you in the morning.
If you prefer, you can skip the schedule entirely and just click the buttons yourself whenever you want.
Look at the Download Log for the reason. The most common causes:
- "cow_password not configured" - You haven't set the Clear Out West password in the Auth settings tab. Open Settings, go to the Auth tab, type it in, and Save.
- "FTP credentials not configured" - You haven't filled in the Weekend In The Country server, username, and password in the Auth tab.
- "URL not configured" - The Dropbox link for Northwest Outdoors or
Whittler still says
YOUR_LINK_HERE. Paste the real link in the URLs tab. - "No downloaded file found after waiting" - The website was slow or the file didn't arrive in time. Try again. If it keeps happening, check your internet connection.
Downloads can take a few minutes, especially the ZIP files from Dropbox. The progress bar and status text should keep moving. If nothing changes for several minutes, close the program and try again. The program automatically retries failed downloads up to the number you set in Retry Attempts.
If you unchecked "Auto-close browser after downloads" in the General settings, Firefox stays open after downloads finish. Either close it yourself, or re-check that box in Settings so the program closes it automatically.
This means either FFmpeg is not installed on your computer, or the Tag File setting points to a file that doesn't exist. Check the Paths tab in Settings and make sure FFmpeg is installed (see What You Need Before You Start).
Make sure you clicked the Save button at the bottom of the Settings window. If you clicked Cancel or closed the window with the X, your changes were not saved.
All your settings are saved in a file called download_config.json that
sits next to the program. You never need to open it yourself, but it is
there if you ever need to back it up or copy it to another computer.
If you get stuck and this guide doesn't answer your question, ask whoever set up the program for you, and show them the Download Log, which will help them figure out what went wrong.