[Request] Option to prefer stream over download for soundcloud

[DenialAdams]

Hello,

For an application I am working on, I use streams from soundcloud to play music. This fails when the file for the track is available for download. I was wondering if there a way (perhaps as a parameter?) to support getting the stream as opposed to the download if preferred by the user.

Example:

(Download NOT available, gives stream URL)

brick@treef ~ % youtube-dl --prefer-insecure -i -g http://soundcloud.com/madeon/technicolor-original
https://ec-media.soundcloud.com/B1H78RLx4hf2.128.mp3?f10880d39085a94a0418a7ef69b03d522cd6dfee9399eeb9a522009c6bfdb73b188c326458f08b1f7ee6ceb309f0104c492b4322561fa73050cd328fed3f14ff1ad9797a6b&AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJNIGGLK7XA7YZSNQ&Expires=1410459762&Signature=OrwuRHiclh9m%2BvmIELm%2F0PRt%2BxI%3D

(Download available, returns download URL)

brick@treef ~ % youtube-dl --prefer-insecure -i -g http://soundcloud.com/totalbiscuit/shania-bain-that-dont-impressa-me-much 
https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/165922504/download?client_id=b45b1aa10f1ac2941910a7f0d10f8e28

The second one would fail for my use.

I'm guessing this may not be possible because of implementation on soundcloud's end, or because it is not a common enough case to warrant adding an option. Thanks!

[jaimeMF]

You can use youtube-dl 'http://soundcloud.com/totalbiscuit/shania-bain-that-dont-impressa-me-much' -f mp3 (in general you can see the available formats with -F). Use -f mp3/best if you don't want it to fail if there isn't a mp3 format.