If you’ve read this blog for any length of time then you know that SoundCloud is in some trouble, and even though it just received yet another bailout and changed CEO’s, it’s future is up in the air. No one really knows the direction that the service will take, and that’s the problem. Will it continue trying to become a consumer streaming service with all the latest major label songs, or will it revert back to it’s original purpose of helping the indie musician by being the YouTube of music?

If you’ve been pretty good about protecting your original music files, have backups of the masters, and can easily get your hands on them at a moments notice, then you probably won’t need the following guidance. If some of your files are only on SoundCloud, then you need to download a copy of them now to protect yourself should the service abandon you at a later time. Here’s how:

Step 1: You need to download and install a copy of the Firefox browser. Sorry, the plugin we need only runs on Firefox.

Step 2. Download an extension called DownThemAll. It’s free, but it would be nice if you donated a few bucks to the developer for helping you to save your music.

Step 3. Go to this site to view all of your SoundCloud files in one place.

Step 4. Open the tools window in Firefox and open the DownThemAll application. You’ll then see all the links to your music. Select the “Select All” command to mark all the files, then the “Audio” box in Filters, then Save Files.

Then you can rest your mind that your music has been saved, and no mater what happens with SoundCloud in the future, at least you won’t have to worry about losing anything you can never get back.

Thanks to Pro Tools Expert for this helpful tip.