Using a free little prog called OpD2d to record from soundcard, streaming audio from a website. Bit of fiddling got me the record level ok but the sound is strange when the wav is played back, what I call a vortex effect if that means anything? Kind of a swirling, wind tunnel kinda sound to the music, any clues or any other bits of software to try, had a look at silent bob but that doesnt appear to like xp

Try to use a different program:
http://www.geocities.com/simplelance/

Streambox vcr is good for capturing streaming audio and video. A search on Google should give you a link for it.