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Have you ever been annoyed that services like [http://muxtape.com/ MuxTape] (currently unavailable thanks to the RIAA), [http://favtape.com/ FavTape] or other playlist-based music sites don't let you download songs. The better sites offer a link to purchase the songs through the iTunes Store or Amazon.com, but some just stream the music and then it's gone.
Or is it? Most services like the ones above rely on Flash to obsfucate urls and make it difficult, though not impossible, to download the actual files.
We'll show you how you can grab just about any file you want by exploring your browser's cache.
== Why this works ==
When you stream music content from a site your browser has to download the file and store it for playback. There are ways the site can prevent your browser from caching the file, but most sites don't bother with such techniques since most people don't know how to do what we're going to show you.
The trick is to find the temporarily stored song file in your browser's cache and then copy it to a more permanent location on your hard drive.
To show you how this works we'll use [http://www.seeqpod.com/ Seeqpod] as an example, but the same technique will work for similar sites (and other kinds of files -- like video -- as well).
== Using Firefox ==
The first thing we need to do if find out where Firefox stores its cache.
To access the Firefox cache data, open a new tab and type <code>about:cache</code>. That will load a page that gives you all sorts of info about your cache. Look for the "Disk cache device" header and then find the Cache Directory path.
Using Finder or Windows Explorer open that folder and sort the contents by date and time. While the file names are randomly generated, we can guess which files we're looking for by creation time and size, so make sure you can see both columns in your Finder/Explorer window.
Now point your browser to Seeqpod and search for a song you want to download. Load the song in Seeqpod's Flash player and wait for it to finish loading (watch the gray process bar). Once the file is loaded in memory, head back to your Firefox cache folder and look for the new file.
It might take a little trial and error but look for recently created cache files in 3-6 MB range and drag them over to your desktop. Add a .mp3 extension to the file and you now have a copy of the song.
== Using Internet Explorer ==
If IE is more your bag, fear not, the process is the same, in fact it's even a little bit easier.
Once the Seeqpod track has finished loading, open up Tools >> Internet Options. In the Internet Options panel look for the Temporary Internet Files section and click "Settings." That will bring up a new panel where you can click the "View files" button.
That should open a new Window with a list of cache files. Just look for the ones with the <code>.mp3</code> extension and then copy and paste the file over your desktop.
== Conclusion ==
Once you have the <code>.mp3</code> files on your desktop, just add them to your favorite music software, upload them to your iPod or other music player and enjoy.
Is this legal? Depending on the copyright applied to the song you're downloading, using this technique may violate the copyright of the content owner. This article is not intended as legal advice and is for educational purposes only.
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