the bbc radio player has been “experiencing severe technical difficulties” for many weeks now.
“We have had a problem with the database that runs the BBC radio player,” said the BBC in a statement.
“The current issue has arisen in the last couple of weeks. We’ve rebuilt much of the software and have now fixed the worst of the problems. However, throughout the problem, all our programmes have still been available via ‘listen again’ on network’s homepages.”
scarily, when i went looking to see what was actually going on i discovered that
The radio player and the BBC news player will eventually be integrated into the iPlayer as a one-stop media shop for all BBC content.
ah good, that’s just great. the iplayer is a DRMd microsoft only player. i, and anyone else out there using macs or linux no longer get to listen to the bbc (like we have for years) unless we install a MS OS. bastards.
there was recently a protest outside the BBC. interestingly a lot of the BBC’s staff opened windows (no pun intended) and shouted out their support for the protesters. one even started placing apples on the window ledge. all this until a senior BBC guy came out and shouted for them all to close their windows (still no pun intended) and get back to work.
again i should say that the BBC is not a commercial service. it is paid for by the UK populace (including me), is not allowed to promote or advertise commercial companies, is the finest media org in the world, and and and they’re bastards.
As a ‘BBC Bastard’ (and the one currently in charge of the technical solution of the BBC Radio Player), could I firstly assure you that the Radio Player is on its way to be fixed, and wholeheartedly apologise for its unreliability of late.
The BBC Radio Player will be incorporated into iPlayer next year, so that you’ll find radio programmes next to TV programmes in one consistent interface.
The BBC offers our radio programmes in a streaming format with no DRM - whether that’s live or on-demand. The incorporation of our content into iPlayer will not change this. It will still be multi-platform, and these streams will still have no DRM attached. Panic not: my Ubuntu box at home will still enjoy BBC Radio 1’s output, whener I want to listen, and I’m delighted that whether the badge says ‘Radio Player’ or ‘iPlayer’, we can continue to make the unmissable radio programmes we make… unmissable. Whatever OS you use.
Thanks for blogging about us.
James Cridland
Head of Future Media & Technology, BBC Audio & Music Interactive
Comment by James Cridland, BBC — August 17, 2007 @ 11:33 am