Re: BBC iplayer

On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:39:47 GMT, "Carl Waring"
<email@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

middlelight@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Tue, 12 Feb 2008 11:01:50 GMT, "Carl Waring"
<email@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

middlelight@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
I downloaded a programme for
someone a couple of weeks ago, and took the WMV file round at the
weekend only to find it wouldn't play on their PC because of this.

Hang on. You did something you're not allowed to do and you're
/surprised/ it didn't work?

What wasn't I supposed to do? Download a programme from the BBC
iPlayer? Last time I checked, that's a perfectly legitimate option
offered by the site.

Indeed it is.

Are you stupid?

Well perhaps I am in some ways, but I don't think this is one of them.
To recap:

1. I downloaded a programme that was available on the BBC's iPlayer
site.

2. I took the file over to someone else's house for them to watch.

THAT was the 'wrong' bit. DRM rights restrictions mean you can only watch
whatever you download on the PC to which you downloaded it.

3. They tried to watch the file, well within the 30 day limit that
the site claims is allowed for downloaded files, but outside of the 7
day limit where the file is viewable online via streaming.

4. The file wouldn't play because the DRM licence wasn't available.

Tada!!!

I fail to see which of the above was stupid. The only way that I can

I admit that there's nothing in the T&Cs about taking what you've downloaded
to a friends house to play there,

Ah, that'll be why I didn't immediately leap to the same conclusion
that you have.

but then surely common sense would
prevail. ie... "hang on. it's DRM'd so will only play on my own PC. Perhaps
my friend should download their own copy, or watched it on-line themselves,
or come round here to watch it."

Why is that "common sense"? Had I taken it round within the seven
days, it would have played. Had I kept it on my PC but only attempted
to watch it after the seven days, it would have failed. In this case
the DRM is there to make sure it can only be watched for a fixed
period of time. It has absolutely nothing to do with which hard disk
the WMV file is located on. I could back up the DRM files, take them
round to my friend's house, restore them and it should play just fine.

see that I was being stupid was in using the BBC's iPlayer site with
its stupid, pointless DRM crap, when I should have just gone to a

Of course, it *has* be protected due to the rights that the BBC have paid to
have the programme available for download in the first place.

Illegal BT sites record off-air with no thought to paying for those rights.

As will I from now on.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: BBC iplayer
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