The television service is now available in beta on-demand British BBC iPlayer, one month after the platform’s launch announcement.
IPlayer allows users to do the download of a wide range of BBC television programs, free of charge, as long as they were broadcast in the seven days before the content was downloaded. After being stored in the service’s multimedia library, users will have 30 days to view the selected programs. After this period the contents will be deleted.
As it is still at an early stage, the BBC is asking users to give their feedback regarding the functioning of the service in order to improve the aspects that, in the public’s opinion, need to be refined.
To run with quality, iPlayer requires 500 MB of available RAM, Internet Explorer (version 5 or later), Windows Media Player 10 (or higher), sound and video card, JavaScriot, ActiveX, Cookies activated and a broadband connection.
Compatibility with operating systems is the only detail that has caused some problems. For the time being iPlayer is only compatible with Windows XP. This detail has already led the Open Source Consortium to meet with the BBC Trust in order to discuss the possibility of making the system compatible with other platforms and has motivated 12,500 users to sign a petition requesting the intervention of the Prime Minister British in this case.
It remains to be noted that the final version of the platform should be available for download in the fall. Until then, users interested in trying iPlayer can do so by downloading the beta version from the service’s website.
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