Comments on: On media, broadcast and formats http://www.acidlabs.org/2008/07/18/on-media-broadcast-and-formats/ Conversation. Collaboration. Community. Sat, 06 Mar 2010 01:58:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: James Peekhttp://www.acidlabs.org/2008/07/18/on-media-broadcast-and-formats/comment-page-1/#comment-12070 James Peek Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:07:35 +0000 http://www.acidlabs.org/2008/07/18/on-media-broadcast-and-formats/#comment-12070 I was just in UK staying with my grandparents (85+). They have iPlayer installed, but no iTunes (no MP3 player) and don't use Windows Media Player (for good reason!).Given the majority of users are still on PC, not all of whom own MP3 players (particularly true of the older generation) combined with the terrible usability of Media Player, its not surprising the BBC offered a downloadable player! The UX is great, and my grandparents had no trouble showing me the most recent episode of Dr Who while I was there.That said, it is also worth noting that iPlayer is also available as a hulu-style web based application; runs very well via the custom iPhone/Touch web version and is soon to be available for other devices such as the Nintendo Wii and AppleTV.The issues of regional locking, viewing windows and being able to download "open format" files are all factors no doubt imposed over-zealous legal departments, and people worried about loss of DVD sale revenue, but I'm sure, in time, these will improve. I was just in UK staying with my grandparents (85+). They have iPlayer installed, but no iTunes (no MP3 player) and don’t use Windows Media Player (for good reason!).

Given the majority of users are still on PC, not all of whom own MP3 players (particularly true of the older generation) combined with the terrible usability of Media Player, its not surprising the BBC offered a downloadable player! The UX is great, and my grandparents had no trouble showing me the most recent episode of Dr Who while I was there.

That said, it is also worth noting that iPlayer is also available as a hulu-style web based application; runs very well via the custom iPhone/Touch web version and is soon to be available for other devices such as the Nintendo Wii and AppleTV.

The issues of regional locking, viewing windows and being able to download “open format” files are all factors no doubt imposed over-zealous legal departments, and people worried about loss of DVD sale revenue, but I’m sure, in time, these will improve.

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