Streamripper records MP3, Ogg, AAC, and NSV. Audio and video files from Shoutcast and Icecast compatible streams. The streams can be recorded as a whole or in individual tracks. Streamripper also features a relay stream, which lets you listenor watch live from multiple clients while recording.
 
Streamripper first connects to the stream in question, this happens over TCP (not UDP). For Shoutcast-style streams it finds the "meta data" or track separation data (defined by a meta-interval), and uses that as a marker for where the track should be separated.
 
The data is buffered back about 10-30 seconds. When a track has changed, it goes back through its buffer, decodes the mp3 data in that buffer then looks for a silent point of the audio. It uses that silent point as a place to separate the tracks.