Catch up when you feel like it! (BBC iPlayer)

Member Name: excelsior81

Product:	BBC iPlayer
Date:	17/08/09 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A great choice of shows

Disadvantages: It can use your internet allowance quickly

Particularly in the summer months I find that I am so busy in the evenings, making the most of the late night sunshine, that I miss some of my favourite programmes.

The BBC have developed their iPlayer to allow those who have missed their favourite programmes to catch up at their leisure, which has proven to be amazingly popular across the UK.

The first thing worth mentioning about the service is that if you are on a limited download connection, this will very quickly eat up all of your allownace if you choose to download shows to watch within seven days. You can choose to stream programmes, but if like me you want to watch them when you are on the train or plane, then check with your provider about the download limitations of your connection.

There are ways around this though. I for instance, seem to spend a lot of time in the pub during the summer too, so I take my laptop with me and connect to the free wireless it provides, or I sometimes go to McDonalds, have a coffee and use their wifi too to download my favourite programmes!

A typical programme of thirty minutes will take around 15 minutes to download. An hour long show can take up to thirty five minutes depending on internet traffic. I would also suggest that you do not download multiple programmes at once. I did this only yesterday, having three shows download at one time and it took over an hour and was very slow, also causing my computer to grunt and grind for the rest of the evening!

The system works in a similar way to Youtube so is very easy and familiar to use, you can also on the main pages change the size of the download to reduce your hard disc space use. There are a wide range of shows on the system and the BBC have organised them well. You can usually find shows from the previous week on the system as well as movies that have been showing on the channel. This has been one of my favourite features as often I end up falling asleep during the late night movie!

I also enjoy the radio shows and I can honestly say that I have listened to the radio more in the past few months because of the ease of downloading the shows.

The software is easy to download too and does not take up huge amounts of memory. It is also updated regularly and this often does it with you only need ing to prompt it.

I enjoy the freedom and choice to watch the shows I enjoy when I am on the move and I also like that I am able to access this service via my digital television.

The BBC were the leaders in the UK of this kind of programme and other channels are hastily playing catch up. It represents the future of television brilliantly and as internet speeds continue to improve with the advent of fibre optic connections, I am confident the BBC will continue to add more and more content to their site.

This programme makes the BBC webpage even more important to visit and it definately gets my vote!

Summary: Download it and enjoy your shows on the move

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