We've covered the brouhaha over the BBC iPlayer several times. Basically the BBC is putting lots of their video content on the web, but they chose a Windows Media-based solution that was incompatible with Macs (and Linux). After an uproar from British Mac users that actually got a response from 10 Downing Street, the BBC assured the public that a Mac compatible solution would be forthcoming. Now the Guardian is reporting that the Beeb has settled on an Adobe Flash-based system to stream content to Mac (and Linux) users "by the end of the year." Non-Windows users will still not be able to download content, however.This kind of streaming-only "solution" for Mac users looks to be picking up steam with Napster recently announcing the same sort of streaming-only (no download) service for Macs. While we can certainly appreciate that getting something is better than nothing, I hope that full feature parity is in the works across the pond.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-17-2007 @ 9:51PM
racer said...
It's not that tough to download a streaming flash video. Firefox add-ons can do it, quicktime pro will do it, and there are even widgets that do it. The quality might not be as good, but if you absolutely have to download it, there you go.
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10-17-2007 @ 10:11PM
Luigi193 said...
I BELIEVE that you canuse safari's option A thing to grab a streaming vid...
But maybe not. You can on youtube and most of those, but not on NBC's player....... or maybe it will be a swf file THEN you would need a decoder program...
Ug its not worth it who cares good day sir.
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10-17-2007 @ 10:17PM
Rhywun said...
Yeah, BBC ticked me off when I tried to view some of their Doctor Who content and was rudely awakened to their Windows-only policy. Guys, it's not that difficult. In fact, the Windows-only situation is very, very rare. Off the top of my head I can't think of any other site that's Windows only. Except maybe some of the news sites like CNN but that could be a symptom of AdBlock, I'm not sure.
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10-18-2007 @ 4:27AM
An67 said...
About time, we pay a licence fee to the bbc every year and they must make everything they do available to all. This does baffle me as most of there post production is turning to macs now.
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10-18-2007 @ 4:30AM
Barry Ward said...
Flash based is better than nothing. To be honest, I don't mind not being able to download, as I am almost always online to be able to stream. The question is, as with XP users, will we still have to download some bloated piece of software in order to use the service? Or, as the Mac version is flash-based only, can we just access our programs from a web page?
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10-18-2007 @ 5:46AM
AltTabMac said...
As an update to this...after releasing this news that it was a streaming-only solution, the Trust board have now informed them that this is simply not good enough and that they must still commit to a downloadable option for both Mac and Linux. That'll teach them for trying to get past with a half-assed attempt.
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10-18-2007 @ 7:09AM
Joey said...
@Rhywun: Channel 4, ITV...
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10-18-2007 @ 8:36AM
photon said...
Can anyone point me to a British proxy server so that I can view this from the States?
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10-19-2007 @ 6:41AM
Rymer said...
"Can anyone point me to a British proxy server so that I can view this from the States?"
I hope they offer a subscription service for those that don't pay a UK Licence fee... As a fee payer I feel it would be unfair to give these services to everyone outside the UK for free!
It will also be a good revue earner for the BBC and help them to make more quality programs.
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10-19-2007 @ 12:58PM
Samuel said...
maybe the mac should support xmp metadata tagging, maybe that might speed thigns along
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