I have been reading about iPlayer, mostly criticism. It seems to be a:
Windows XP-only, Windows Media Player-only, Internet Explorer-only, DRM-constrained iPlayer application.
according to Mashable.
And this is its greatest flaw. By taking this approach, the Beeb has pretty much guaranteed that it will be accessible by a small population, thereby limiting its success by default.
It is a shame because I really enjoy the BBC content I have managed to get here in the US, but the Beeb seems to be determined not to makes it content available to those who want it.
I use a Mac and I don’t think of myself as a minor platform, neither do I think of Linux that way. In fact in recent episode of dl.tv, Patrick Norton was surprised that 20% of the downloads were done from Macs. I was surprised too, I expect the number to be less than that.
Another figure that surprised me was Steve Jobs saying that iTunes had been installed on 300 million computers. That is a huge number and if I were going to distribute audio and/or video content, I would certainly look for ways to leverage that reach.
[...] I will be curious if this move by Apple will spur the BBC into rethinking its plans for the BBC iPlayer. This is the BBC’s solution to providing access to its (great!) content to consumers on the internet. Personally I think it is flawed for a number of reasons. [...]
Pingback by iTunes and iPlayer « François Schiettecatte’s Blog — August 29, 2007 @ 3:26 pm