I travel a lot around the country  and i love to listen to BBC Radio
4, the talking station of the UK.. I often miss very interesting
documentaries so I used to try and tape them and listen to them in my
car. I have a new car now which has a cd player.  There is a facility
to listen to programmes if you visit a station website, but this a
`live download`, you listen to it live off the website.  Is there a
way to transfer the information onto the hard drive of the computer
and then transfer it onto mp3, and from there to my mp3 player.  I`m
not trying to pirate music and fraud people, I just want to listen my
favourite radio programmes, just as you can with tv programmes with a
VCR.

Hi! Thanks for the question.

Yes there is a way to record the online radio programs you want to
listen to. You just then burn the resulting MP3 file into a CD-R. You
will need to use online streaming radio recorder software for this
purpose.

Our first link provides a comparison chart of some of the streaming
radio recorder programs we will be listing here. You can use the chart
to determine at a glance if the software will be useful for you. Some
of them also have trial versions so you can try them out before you
buy.

Streaming Audio Recording Software Chart
http://radio.about.com/library/blstreamingchart.htm 
 

Here is the list of streaming radio recorders that can capture the
audio in MP3 format.

Replay Radio
http://www.replay-radio.com/

Loop Recorder
http://www.looprecorder.de/

Total Recorder
http://www.highcriteria.com

Audio Record Wizard
http://www.nowsmart.com

Advanced MP3/WMA Recorder
http://www.xaudiotools.com

MciRecorder
http://www.realrecorder.net

Sound Recorder
http://www.aonesoft.com

Audio MP3 Sound Recorder
http://www.mp3-recorder.biz/

WAV Recorder
http://www.wav-recorder.com/

Powerful Sound Recorder and Editor
http://www.1st-sound-recorder.com/

AudioStreamer
http://www.audiostreamer.com/

Visual CD Ripper
http://www.cdandmp3.com

Audiolib MP3 Recorder
http://www.audiolib.com/recorder/index.html

FairStars Recorder 2.51
http://www.fairstars.com

BOOMBox
http://www.jajsoft.com/products.html

SoundCapture
http://www.softpile.com/Multimedia/Audio/Review_11678_index.html

PolderbitS Sound Recorder
http://www.polderbits.com/?ref=adword1

Web Radio Recorder
http://www.webspeakster.com/web_recorder.html

Easy Hi-Q Recorder
http://www.shareup.com/Easy_Hi-Q_Recorder-download-12641.html

CREATIVE AUDIO STREAMING RECORDER
http://www.soundblaster.com/resources/read.asp?articleid=64

All Sound Recorder
http://www.allformp3.com/sound_editor/smr.htm?edit

Audio Record Wizard
http://www.allformp3.com/sound_editor/audio-recorder-wizard.htm

Live Sound Recorder
http://www.sound-recorder-software.com/

Audio Playback Recorder
http://www.tongsoft.com/

AudioSpin Streaming Media Recorder
http://www.globalshareware.com/Mp3-Audio/Streaming-Audio/AudioSpin-Streaming-Media-Recorder.htm

Twins Stream Ripper
http://www.twins-software.com/

Search strategy used:
Free streaming radio recorder

I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information.
                 
Thanks for visiting us.                
                 
Regards,                 
Easterangel-ga                 
Google Answers Researcher

Excellent, an anwer arrived within a couple of hours!!

Easter Angel
Am I correct in thinking that all streaming radio is in MP3 Format and
what we are trying to do is convert this into a useable format for CD
/ MP3 Player / etc.?

Or, put it another way, what format is a simple CD Audio disk?
Thanks.

What happens is that the streaming audio in whatever format it is, is 
recorded and subsequently converted into MP3. After that you can burn
it into a cd. If the car stereo or player can play mp3 then they can
play the program.