I have found a very nice streaming audio recorder. Easy to use and it comes with an audio editor. The editor makes it very easy to cut multiple tracks into individual segments or cut start and endings. It's called PolderBits (http://www.polderbits.com/sound-recorder-and-editor.html); a Dutch product. It takes the audio from the internal sound card. Can be used to record from tape casette or vinyl. Free to use for 7 days then it costs about $33 US. They also have a Video Recorder, a DVD Creator and a VoIP Recorder, but I haven't tried them.
It records in real time.
Here's a link to a list (http://www.cnet.com/1990-7899_1-6396943-1.html) of the bitrates used by various online music services.