I have been trialling the new BBC iPlayer (beta) service. The basic concept is that you can download programmes up to 7 days after they are broadcast, you then have 28 days to watch them before they expire. This is the perfect thing for me, as I'm stuck on a train for two hours a day with nothing to do, and in the evenings I'm normally busy.
I have to say, I've been quite impressed. The files download quite quickly, the quality is almost as good as broadcast TV and the application doesn't take over your computer (like the channel 4 on-demand service).
However, there are some short-comings, firstly the lack of content. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the TopGear Arctic special, there haven't been that many programmes that have caught my attention. Secondly; it's a bit complicated. You have two usernames and passwords, you use a website to browse the programmes, and an windows application to download them. Thirdly, the service needs some features like 'subscribe to this series' or 'favourites' to make it easier to find the programmes you want. This is only a beta, so I'm sure things will improve, but it's a great first step towards a far more preferable way to watch TV.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayerbeta/
2 comments:
Unfortunately you can't use it if you're outside of the UK. Fair enough, I'm not paying a license fee, but I can listen to BBC radio fine. I wonder if they'll change it for the final release.
...and you can't get MOTD. Boo!
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