Hi Andy, > How does one report faults experienced in the downloads? > If anyone at the BBC has access to the BBC's fault tracking > system (if you have one) perhaps you could add:
I have asked around and I can try to answer some of your points... > When accessing feeds for BBC podcasts it lists many episodes, the enclosure links for these are invalid for all but the first entry > (they return a 404 error). > Potential fixes: > Don't remove or move the files after 7 days. > Follow the HTTP standard properly. If the file has moved use a 301 or 302 redirect. If it has been removed the correct response > would be 410 (Gone), not 404 (Not Found). > Remove entries from the RSS feed. (May still be a problem for some clients). We think this may be your feed reader / podcatcher archiving the RSS feed, so an old <item> remains listed, even though we've deleted the mp3 and removed any reference to it from the RSS feed. Our RSS feeds for podcasts should only contain valid items. > A few questions: > I saw that the Music Podcasts are UK only. Is this due to the BBC only acquiring the rights to UK distribution, or is it > because the BBC wants to restrict it's content to the UK as we are the license fee payers. The licensing deal with PPL only covers the UK. > As the files are only on the server for 7 days (as far as I can tell) are users meant to delete the files after that > time, or if you've downloaded it can it be kept. I hope I don't have to find the delete option on my Generic Portable > Ogg Vorbis Player (which also conveniently plays MP3). > > Also what is the BBC's rules on copying these podcasts, does the BBC license people to copy the file from say, their PC to > their Generic Portable Music Player? Once you've downloaded an mp3, it's yours to keep forever and yes, you can copy it to your media player. The full terms of use are here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/terms/ > Of course some of the podcasts are just extracts from the Radio shows so you could always just download the full shows > from Radio Player. The only real difference (pun intended) is the file format. The programmes on the Radio Player are presented as streams only. The BBC's agreements with rights holders prevent the BBC from authorising copies being made of internet audio streams. Hope that helps, Tristan - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
