BBC iPlayer goes from strength to strength. The iPhone has become the best way of accessing the quality content of the BBC. Recent changes included an iPhone formatted front end, availability of an entire series, and now streaming radio via wifi.
The radio shows are provided in MP3 format at 128kbps. I listened to Radio One’s ‘Fearne and Reggie’s Request Show’ this morning, I was able to find the show within seconds and the quality was superb, certainly way better than FM.
iPlayer for iPhone is now almost complete. Streaming is fine, but where is the ability to download TV and Radio shows? On the 1st October, the Nokia N96 will become the second phone to get its own dedicated iPlayer application. The big win – especially over the iPhone version – will be the facility to download shows.
I’m expecting my trial N96 to arrive within the next 3 days, so head back here at the weekend for a comparison between iPlayer for the N96 and iPhone.
For more details on the new iPhone streaming radio service from the BBC check out Mark Friend’s blog post over at the BBC Internet Blog.
UPDATE: Unlike iPlayer video streaming, audio streams will happy play on when you press the Home button.