BBC iPlayer - Too little too late
It’s not just the BBC, Channel 4 have done the same. They’ve released a player that downloads and plays previous programs on your PC, but it’s crippled with DRM so you can’t put downloads into your library (not that I keep a ilbrary, life’s too short) and the picture quality is rubbish.
They’re also way too late. You can download pretty much any program in the UK the day after it’s been shown with TheBox or UKNova bittorrent directories. Then, you can burn it to a CD or DVD and play it on your telly from your DVD player with proper TV quality. It’s dead easy.
The record and TV companies will eventually realise that once a program is aired, it’s pretty much public domain and that charging people (or wasting licence payers money in the case of the BBC) for the performance and media doesn’t work any more. Then, they’ll be able to concentrate on what they should really be doing - being a promotions company and providing the users with value add services, rather than trying to sue everybody for stealing music and video.
But performing rights issues are a topic for a different rant…
