Some useful cron commands:


59 15 * * 1,2,3,4,5 /usr/bin/streamripper http://128.208.34.80:8002/listen.pls -u 'iTunes/7.7.0' -d /path/to/destination/directory -a atc_`date +\%Y-\%m-\%d` -l 7320 >/dev/null 2>&1


This records “All Things Considered” from NPR each weekday afternoon, just like you used to record radio onto cassette tapes when you were a kid. If I remember correctly cron didn’t like the output streamripper generates while working, hence the redirect to /dev/null. The % character has some special significance to cron and thus must be escaped in the date sub-command.


58 20 * * 1,2,3,4,5 /usr/bin/streamripper http://www.wfuv.org/audio/wfuvmp3high.pls -u 'iTunes/7.7.0' -d /path/to/destination/directory/echoes -a echoes_`date +\%Y-\%m-\%d` -l 7380 >/dev/null 2>&1


Similarly, this records the radio show “Echoes”.


32 15,3 * * * cd /path/to/destination/directory && wget --mirror --wait 15 --random-wait --page-requisites --convert-links --no-parent --span-hosts --domains downloads.bfads.net,bfads.net --exclude-domains i.bfads.net,forums.bfads.net,m.bfads.net http://bfads.net/Adscans/


Each November http://bfads.net/ collects leaked circulars of upcoming Black Friday sales. Some of them are later removed after the stores whine, threaten, and complain. This command checks twice daily for new adscans and downloads an extra copy to a safe place.