> ... and what about the neo freerunner platform! And Android... And RIM's devices (that doesn't support DRM at all, something one mobile music platform has already countered by selling major labels' content in MP3 or AAC+ format)...
To be honest, I don't think the Windows Media DRM implementation on WinMo phones is great - it piggybacks on the host device's DRM privileges, and requires a minimum level of WMP on the desktop in order to sync desired content between devices. I do NOT want to be syncing gigabytes of high bitrate WMV files to my pocket device, although it has 2Gb SD card. I'd much prefer MPEG4/XviD/unDRMed WMV (in that order), which will play on virtually any mobile device, in a sufficiently low enough bitrate that most pocket devices less than 24 months old can handle it (300-400kbps would do nicely). Players like TCPMP are quite capable of handling this, although WMV might have an edge in terms of playback performance on WinMo devices. (And what about full support for Linux in a format which doesn't mandate a proprietary plugin, etc? And other minority OSes, my thoughts don't just stay on OS-agnostic support for all mobile devices, but that's where I see the iPlayer taking off next) If you think about it, the BBC is eventually going to *have* to provide a host of formats for all manner of devices; it's the logical progression and the public will demand it as more and more people get those inclusive data tariffs and phones that support formats that can facilitate on-demand video streaming. So, I agree that it makes sense to begin a rollout on other mobile platforms - as we can currently see, in a controlled partnership with Nokia on one particular handset, which is obviously useful to gauge quality of service and platform stability... That said, delays wouldn't be a good thing for gradual rollout to other mobile devices - particularly if they begin to err towards the unreasonable (in my mind, anything more than six months). Anything like that, when it's seen by the public that just a lucky couple of handsets are still the only ones to be granted access to the iPlayer platform by the almighty Beeb... Well, I can only imagine that it's going to result in a growing amount of resentment from regular users who have WinMo handsets (like myself) who cannot use or access the iPlayer on their mobile devices. I have an HSDPA connection, why can't I just stream MPEG4 video? I think I might even put up with stuff being panned & scanned (although being given the choice would be nice) - as long as I can just play it when I'd like! A "download to desktop then sync to mobile" solution is far less preferable, but again it'd be tolerable for the interim. If the current state of play continues much past the middle of 2009 though, they're going to have people angrily knocking on the doors asking why they can't get iPlayer on their mobile, plus increased discussion about the validity of the licence fee, just how much of it is going into development of a product which is still treated as a walled garden solution for a lucky minority of handset owners etc... I'm broadly in favour of the licence fee, but even I might start to have my doubts if not much visible progress is made by the middle of next year, given that the iPlayer's supposed to be the Beeb's flagship interactive service and all that. Sorry, I've ended up thinking aloud again... But put it like this: I have an almost infinite amount of patience, and I fully appreciate the technical complexities of rolling out a service that is as transparent as possible for all licence fee payers. However, demand will inexorably grow, and the proles grow restless far more quickly than techy people like us do! I hope that the BBC don't get caught up in making their service so perfect and refined for just a couple of platforms that they neglect the rest of the market (which still remains the vast majority of all mobile users). Some fear-allaying words from people involved with the iPlayer which give us an indication that they are aware of this bigger picture and will facilitate a widespread rollout in due course to all mobile devices would be a very good thing to have at this time, I highly doubt that any announcement of impending future rollouts that are supported across multiple mobile Oses would be regarded as falling foul of any potential Public Value Test or anything like that. In fact, it could only be a good thing. Thoughts? > I imagine that the iplayer team are working on the windows > mobile platform though the DRM probably is an extra layer of > bureaucracy (including lawyers) and fiddling. > > I hope the team will find a way to have a SVGA version of mp4 > iplayer for all mobile devices. That would be ideal i think. > > Tim > > -- > www.tdobson.net > ---- > If each of us have one object, and we exchange them, then > each of us still has one object. > If each of us have one idea, and we exchange them, then each of us now > has two ideas. - George Bernard Shaw > - > 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]/ > - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. 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