BBC Online Radio Fiasco

[Labarum]

Many are finding they can no longer access BBC Radio streams as before on the hardware of their choice. This is because the BBC has changed it's systems and launched "Audio Factory".

See

http://www.whathifi.com/news/listeners-complain-about-changes-to-bbc-internet-radio-streaming

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2015/mar/05/new-internet-radio-listen-bbc-stations

The self help community has a temporary fix for Squeezebox users, but many other listeners around the world and in UK are stranded.

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showt...ne-radio-fiasco-comments-news-moans-campaigns

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?103312-BBCiPlayer-plugin-a-guick-fix-guide

And that only helps those who can handle the technology.

There is a petition here

https://www.change.org/p/the-bbc-tr...ium=email&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive

 

[dhaen]

Yes it certainly does seem like a fiasco at first glance, and it's easy to see how people can become frustrated by the situation.
Disclaimer: I don't work for the BBC nor do I see myself as a BBC apologist, but there is far more to this than meets the eye:
We now live in a very different world than that of AM and FM broadcasts that have been around for decades and certainly long enough for the patents to expire. Anyone can make kit to transmit and receive those old standards, though they make rather inefficient use of bandwidth by comparison with today's standards. Today, technology moves forward at an ever increasing pace.
Proprietary Standards:
How did we get in this mess? When broadcasters started streaming media and offering downloads, the only standards available were those that had been developed by individual companies. Those companies wanted a return on their investmants so charged a licence fee. The suppliers of equipment, both for broadcast and reception paid the fee; We paid the fee in our TV licence fees and in our equipment purchases.
The device that encodes and decodes these standards is known as a codec. They can be built into hardware or run as software. Whichever system is used, there is a limited range of equipment that they can run in. What happens when that equipment reaches the end of it's service life? Possibly there is some alternative setup it can run in, but that may require some R&D (expense) to make it work, or perhaps there's no hope because the original patent holder won't help. We're locked in. In either case it's best to draw a line under the unfortunate episode and move on.
Open Standards:
There is a move afoot to move to standards that can be implemented by anyone. These often still have a licence fee to be paid but we're on much better ground. There can be competition between suppliers, and in theory there's no limit on how long the system can be run.
However open standards aren't the Holy Grail. Continued development means that tomorrow will bring better or cheaper ways of broadcasting, so there is always the question of when is the right time to drop an old standard as it costs to run multiple standards.
There are some technically impressive standards available now that can give much better quality for the given resources (money and bandwidth).
Now for the bad news:
Although the new standards are capable of exceptional quality, the "bean counters" get at them even before the transmissions start. They see opportunity in squeezing more channels/stations in and see the ££ signs behind their eyelids every time they blink. As a result, to my ears anyway, most streamed services are unacceptable. Looking forward to DAB+, it will be interesting what the BBC will offer. Is it only the "bean counters" at work, or is my suspicion correct that they are deliberately keeping quality low so that it does not affect sales of media recordings?

 

[Mike-B]

I advise to go read the BBC www on this - they have moved to a new system called HLS. Its available now but you need to have your equipment enabled to receive it, BBC sent all the major manufacturers an advisory letter some time back. As a result things are moving & some makes are moving faster than others on this, & it might well be that your equipment does not have the ability to update the software to do this. I believe makes like Sonos & others are working at it but nothing has been released yet. But what I do know for sure is that Naim are about to release the firmware as a free upgrade for their streamers. I am beta testing on my Naim at the moment & believe me its really is a huge improvement in both SQ & available stations; they have all the national BBC's plus all the regional/local stations, each has both regular SQ & also HD @ 48kHz & 339kb/s, plus On Demand & Podcast. I advise you investigate & see what your equipment manufacturer is planning or what you need to do to get it.

 

[bill mclean]

I advise to go read the BBC www on this - they have moved to a new system called HLS. Its available now but you need to have your equipment enabled to receive it, BBC sent all the major manufacturers an advisory letter some time back. As a result things are moving & some makes are moving faster than others on this, & it might well be that your equipment does not have the ability to update the software to do this. I believe makes like Sonos & others are working at it but nothing has been released yet. But what I do know for sure is that Naim are about to release the firmware as a free upgrade for their streamers. I am beta testing on my Naim at the moment & believe me its really is a huge improvement in both SQ & available stations; they have all the national BBC's plus all the regional/local stations, each has both regular SQ & also HD @ 48kHz & 339kb/s, plus On Demand & Podcast. I advise you investigate & see what your equipment manufacturer is planning or what you need to do to get it.

Hi Mike,
Thanks for your post, good news that Naim are on their way to releasing new firmware in order to recieve Aunty at reasonable quality. I have to say radio 3&4 were very acceptable at 320 using my HDX.
Cheers,
Bill