Thanks to the help of a couple of kind souls, I have got some good listening for tomorrows commute from Bicester to Crewe: Chris Rock (not to be confused with "Christian Rock" like in that Simpson episode), The News Quiz and Just a Minute. This is just about 2hrs worth which is about how long it takes to get to Crewe if I'm in "economy mode".

I used the software approach this time to get the BBC shows on CD, it seems to have worked well but was a little slow. It took a little more than 30 mins to get a 30min show and then convert it to mp3.
Now I have found my lead with the 3.5mm jacks on each end I'll attempt the more "solid state" approach, stay tuned for progress reports!