Recording 4 hour radio show on Dell Demension

Real Player would have a way of Arciving this to a RA file. Their compression is quite good. However I dont think they offer their server free anymore. You would need to setup a "real media server" and then compress the audio to a huge Real Arcive then burn to cd and listen via real player.

http://www.realnetworks.com/products/codecs/realaudio.html

The Basic version might work for you.

http://www.realnetworks.com/products/producer/basic.html

You could compress using modem playback compatable stream and get ok quality for basic voice audio not music of course that would be Bigger files.

There are alterntives other than RealPlayer.  If the streaming content is "Real Audio" then you will need RealPlayer, if it's Windows Media then you have several other choices.  There's nothing basic that comes with Windows to do what you want.  I don't know of an automatic program that will record, all that I've seen requires manual intervention to start and stop. 

Most of the recording programs for streaming media work off of the "system mixer" or "what you hear" (what you hear on the speakers).  I don't think the basic on-board sound has that capability, you would need a SoundBlaster Audigy 2ZS (and maybe a retail version) to get that capability.

I have 5 or 6 different media players on my PC and all require manual intervention (incluidng MusicMatch Jukebox, WinAmp, Creative (soundblaster) mediasource).