BBC iTunes
February 20, 2008
The BBC have released a select amount of content onto iTunes. This would be exactly what I wanted, were it to not just be another way to make more money. I wanted it to be a version of the iPlayer that would integrate with iTunes to sync with iPods and Apple TVs. The former making a viable portable solution and the latter a decent way to get BBC content back onto TV. Instead, it’s just another way to buy individual episodes or whole series of Little Britain, The Mighty Boosh and Robin Hood amongst a few others.
I’d still rather go through the laborious process of ripping and converting a DVD than buying the content again though. Although DRM is evil, I think this is one case where it could be used effectively to benefit people whilst keeping the BBC happy. Allow us to watch the last weeks worth of BBC content on our iPod for free, then use DRM to stop it playing after a certain amount of time (like a week) or once the programme has been watched. This could even work for other channels. Podcasts incorporate advertisements whilst offering the content up for free, why can’t old media catch on and do the same?
