Has anyone managed to make the BBC's iPlayer broadband TV software work yet? I know it's only a 'beta' version but the Corporation should not have launched iPlayer with such a hoohah until they were confident the software was reasonably robust. It isn't. It's flakey. It's annoying. It doesn't work.
I registered and downloaded the iPlayer and iPlayer Library software as it asked me to but have so far not managed to download a single programme.
When I press the 'download' button it just tells me that I have to download the Library software first. Er...I have. Why can't it recognise that?
Well, along with hundreds of other frustrated testers, judging from the iPlayer messageboards, I keep getting 'Delivery Manager Service' error messages from Microsoft. The offending program is 'KService.exe'. Even after turning off all my antivirus, filtering and firewall software it still doesn't work.
Many beta testers have given up and uninstalled iPlayer in disgust. Once I did manage to start the download but then couldn't open the Library program to check progress. Nothing happened.
In any case, leaving aside frustrating software gremlins, who can sacrifice large chunks of their broadband capacity downloading gigabytes of data just so they can watch a re-run of Holby City on a small screen in an environment that is rarely as comfortable as sitting on the sofa in front of the TV? What evidence is there that viewers actually want this type of service?
And I'm with the open-source zealots on this one. Why did the BBC get into bed so wantonly with Microsoft (the iPlayer will only work with Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Media Player 11)? Using license-payers' money to back one dominant commercial partner is surely contrary to its Charter? And what about Mac users? The BBC has a principle of universality to uphold - its services should be accessible to all. The iPlayer clearly fails to do this. Surely the iPlayer should be completely platform-neutral?
Another concern is that applicants must be at least 16 to sign up to the iPlayer but there is nothing to establish whether people are telling the truth during the registration process (establishing online identity is still the main problem for the internet in my view). This leaves open the possibility that young children could sign up to iPlayer unbeknownst to their parents and watch unsuitable content, again a clear breach of the BBC's duty of care as a responsible public sector broadcaster. Watershed? What watershed?
So it's a beta minus for the BBC's beta iPlayer. It needs to get much better - and quickly - before the BBC suffers even more damage to its increasingly battered reputation.
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