This is the quick and dirty tutorial on using the Streamripper plugin for Winamp. The following steps should get you going ripping streams.

1. Install Streamripper for Winamp.
   
   
2. Go to shoutcast.com, icecast.org, or your favourite radio station website (if it uses shoutcast or icecast streaming), and click on a stream.
   
   
3. Depending on which Winamp version you use...
   
   
   1. Winamp 2.x:
      Both the Winamp and Streamripper windows should come up. If you don't see Streamripper try clicking the SR icon in the taskbar.
      
      
   2. Winamp3:
      Winamp appears, if you don't see Streamripper go to the Thinger window, scroll right in it and you should see the SR icon - click it.
      
      
4. The stream should be playing in Winamp, if it's not, click "Play".
   
   
5. On the top of Streamripper, notice it says 'Press start to rip http://something:port' etc. Click "Start" to start ripping.
   
   

If you don't have a fat pipe (cable modem/dsl, T1, etc.) you'll want to use the Streamripper "Relay server" (RLY). If you don't use this, Streamripper will make another connection to the stream you're listening to, effectively doubling your bandwidth usage. The RLY feature makes Streamripper rip the stream and send it on to Winamp.

You should also consider using the RLY option if you're listening to streams which accept only a low number of listeners, are in high demand, or if you simply don't want to 'squander' their capacity (someone else might want to listen to your favourite music).

To setup a Relay server with the plugin follow these steps:

1. Load your stream as usual.
   
   
2. Click on "Options".
   
   
3. Check "Create relay stream".
   
   
4. Click "Ok".
   
   
5. You'll now notice a "RLY" icon in the Streamripper window.
   
   
6. Start ripping the stream as normal.
   
   
7. Once the stream has gotten past the "buffering" stage. Click on the "RLY" icon. The Winamp Playlist should now have an entry for your relay server in its playlist, something like 'localhost:8000'.
   
   
8. Double click the 'localhost:8000' (or similar) in the Playlist.
   
   
9. Winamp will now be playing "through" Streamripper. The entry in the Playlist will probably change name to something like '[relay stream] + stream name ...'. The normal entry for the stream is no longer in use - you can remove it if you want to - it doesn't matter.
   
   

I hope this works out for you, if not check out the forum, or the mailing list.