Web scraper that downloads archived episodes of 'Trance Around The World' podcast

dl-tatw.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
#
# This is a web scraper which downloads mp3 files from the TATW web archives.
#
# Usage: run this script and pass it an episode range to download via arguments
#
# Dependencies: requires 'aria2' to be installed (uses the CLI tool 'aria2c')
#
require 'pathname'
require 'colorize' # Use of this gem is optional; it makes the output prettier

PLAYER_URL          = 'http://www.trancearoundtheworld.com/player/play.php?id='
DOWNLOAD_URL        = 'http://static.trancearoundtheworld.com/archives'
LOCAL_DOWNLOAD_DEST = '~/Downloads'
CMD                 = 'aria2c'

Dir.chdir Pathname(LOCAL_DOWNLOAD_DEST).expand_path

# Download a range of TATW episodes using the Aria2 CLI
unless ARGV[0] && ARGV[1]
  abort 'ERROR: Supply episode range (two successive numbers) as parameters to the script, e.g. 430 450'
end
SETS = Range.new ARGV[0], ARGV[1]
puts "Attempting to download #{SETS.count} TATW episodes!"
# Episodes take about 3-5 minutes each to download with standard cable
SETS.each do |ep|
  if `#{CMD} #{DOWNLOAD_URL}/TATW#{ep}.mp3`
    puts "...Episode #{ep.to_s.blue} was successfully downloaded!" if File.exist?("#{Dir.pwd}/TATW#{ep}.mp3")
  else
    puts '...Failed '.red + 'to download episode '.yellow + ep.to_s.light_red
  end
end

Instructions:

• The script requires execution privileges to run. You can make it executable for your user with: chmod u+x unbrew.rb.
• You can run the script by executing it normally on the command line, which means either using the absolute path, e.g. /Users/you/dl-tatw.rb, or if the file is in your current working directory, you should use: ./dl-tatw.rb.

This script requires aria2 to be installed. If you use Homebrew, it’s as simple as brew install aria2.

Hey Steve, I was wondering if you have a TATW archive I could download from you. I was in the process of writing a script like this until I found the TATW archive missing due to web-address changing or Above and beyond hiding their TATW archives since they are into their new set Group Therapy.