--- a/snd.py
+++ b/snd.py
@@ -1,23 +1,24 @@
-""" Record a few seconds of audio and save to a WAVE file. 
+""" Record a few seconds of audio and save to a WAVE file.
 Based on http://stackoverflow.com/questions/892199/detect-record-audio-in-python/6743593#6743593
 """
 
 import pyaudio
 import wave
 import sys
-import audioop # http://docs.python.org/library/audioop
-from os.path import exists
 from array import array
 from struct import unpack, pack
-import threading
 from pydispatch import dispatcher
 
-CHANNELS = 1
 THRESHOLD = 500
 CHUNK_SIZE = 1024
 FORMAT = pyaudio.paInt16
 RATE = 44100
-MAX_SILENT = 30
+if sys.platform.startswith('darwin'):
+       CHANNELS = 2
+elif sys.platform.startswith('win32'):
+       CHANNELS = 1
+
+MAX_SILENT = 80
 
 def is_silent(L):
     "Returns `True` if below the 'silent' threshold"
@@ -68,17 +69,17 @@
 
 def record():
     """
-    Record a word or words from the microphone and 
+    Record a word or words from the microphone and
     return the data as an array of signed shorts.
 
-    Normalizes the audio, trims silence from the 
-    start and end, and pads with 0.5 seconds of 
-    blank sound to make sure VLC et al can play 
+    Normalizes the audio, trims silence from the
+    start and end, and pads with 0.5 seconds of
+    blank sound to make sure VLC et al can play
     it without getting chopped off.
     """
     p = pyaudio.PyAudio()
-    stream = p.open(format=FORMAT, channels=1, rate=RATE, 
-                    input=True, output=True,
+    stream = p.open(format=FORMAT, channels=CHANNELS, rate=RATE,
+                    input=True,
                     frames_per_buffer=CHUNK_SIZE)
 
     num_silent = 0
@@ -87,21 +88,29 @@
     LRtn = array('h')
 
     while 1:
-        data = stream.read(CHUNK_SIZE)
+	try:
+	        data = stream.read(CHUNK_SIZE)
+	except IOError as ex:
+    		if ex[1] != pyaudio.paInputOverflowed:
+		        raise
+	    	data = '\x00' * CHUNK_SIZE
         L = unpack('<' + ('h'*(len(data)/2)), data) # little endian, signed short
         L = array('h', L)
-        LRtn.extend(L)
 
         silent = is_silent(L)
         #print silent, num_silent, L[:10]
 
         if silent and snd_started:
             num_silent += 1
-            print num_silent
+            #print num_silent
         elif not silent and not snd_started:
             dispatcher.send( signal='SND_STARTED')
             snd_started = True
             print snd_started
+        if snd_started and not silent:
+	    num_silent = 0
+        if snd_started:
+            LRtn.extend(L)
         if snd_started and num_silent > MAX_SILENT:
             break
 
@@ -121,12 +130,13 @@
     data = pack('<' + ('h'*len(data)), *data)
 
     wf = wave.open(path, 'wb')
-    wf.setnchannels(1)
+    wf.setnchannels(CHANNELS)
     wf.setsampwidth(sample_width)
     wf.setframerate(RATE)
     wf.writeframes(data)
     wf.close()
     print("done - result written to "+path)
+    del data