'BBC iPlayer Improvements' - Downloads now almost unusable

The BBC have changed their iPlayer system.

From
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbiplayer/F7331803?thread=6504678>

"We've just upgrade BBC iPlayer. This means you can now get HD programmes and BBC iPlayer Desktop now replaces Download Manager."

Although it suggests that you should remove the Download Manager to save disk space (after you have watched any programmes you have still waiting to be watched), I
found that, when I tried to download Ashes to Ashes, it wouldn't even download until I first had actually removed Download Manager.

I then found that the download speed is laughably slow. Sometimes it is barely dial-up speed. You will see that there are a lot of complaints further down the page (again
<BBC iPlayer improvements>
It appears that the latest 'improvements' have definitely been a bit of a disaster.

I find that, instead of the fairly constant speed which I used to get, my downloads now come in bursts which peak at 400kb/s, then drop to zero. I'm presently persevering with Ashes to Ashes, which I started at 8am, and still have about 2 hours to go.

I have to admit that don't use iPlayer downloads very much, but they are handy if you have missed something or, in the case of Ashes-to-Ashes, carefully recorded it with subtitles for a your wife, and then accidentally deleted it!
--
Ian
.

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