Or should that be part 1, extract 1, day 1?
The email arrived today with details on how to download the BBC iMP player, details of which can hopefully be found on the BBC site.
To begin with I wasn’t even sure that I could use the thing, as it states that the only supported Operating systems are WinXP and W2K, I am still using a rather dated Win98SE. But as luck would ave it, it installed with no problem.
The other thing of concern is that it utilises Active X within IE, which means I can’t use it within Firefox, which is a pain. I have Active X turned off by default in IE.
Also I have a 512Kb connection and the downloads are painfully slow, so much so that at present it isn’t particularily useful. But I am testing with a 250Mb+ show – Doctor Who.
Accessibility wise it stinks. No keyboard access what so ever. The browse feature isn’t always active, and I’m not even sure how to get it to work but managed it once. I don’t think all programmes are being made available by this service, which rather negates the usefulness of it.
The progress bar for the downloads is ok, but I’d rather have a percentage indicator. Also it appears that you cannot schedule the downloads, which could be another factor in how useful it is.
In part 2 I’ll be reporting on the quality of the download, if i ever mange to get it finished, and anything else that I discover.