[Keith]

Technical support for the desktop application possibly? To download anything on desktop, you need to download 'BBC iPlayer Downloads' to then be able to download programmes, whilst it is within the standard iPlayer app on mobile devices.

I wonder if the with the desktop apps it was easier to then rip the files using a third-party app to make them DRM-free. I'm guessing that the number of users downloading to PC/Mac is considerably lower than when the feature was first launched, which I think was in the fairly early days of the iPlayer.

[Stuart]

I wonder if the with the desktop apps it was easier to then rip the files using a third-party app to make them DRM-free. I'm guessing that the number of users downloading to PC/Mac is considerably lower than when the feature was first launched, which I think was in the fairly early days of the iPlayer.

All still possible with an old Sky+HD STB and 'something dodgy' off eBay to by-pass DRM for everything.

Nothing is 'unrippable', really.

(Not that I suggest any of that)

[IanJRedman]

There's also a very well-known third-party Windows app which makes it extremely easy to get things from iPlayer as regular MP4 files. Again, not naming names...!

[Spencer]

I’m probably missing something here, but is illegal pirating of BBC shows really a big problem? When programmes are available free on iPlayer, I can’t imagine there’s a significant market for blokes down the pub flogging knock-off DVDs of Panorama.

[gottago]

A rare occasion of something I regularly use being discontinued for not being used enough! Was always a nice alternative to craning my head to watch on a mobile on a train.

[VMPhil]

Guess I’ll be increasing my use of [REDACTED NAME OF COMMAND LINE TOOL] then.

[JAS84]

There's also a very well-known third-party Windows app which makes it extremely easy to get things from iPlayer as regular MP4 files. Again, not naming names...!

And stopping official downloads won't stop that. I've heard of similar things for YouTube.

[Stuart]

I completely agree with the need for the Signed versions of programmes being available on iPlayer, but I wish they would identify them clearly. Broadcasters are responsible for providing this information for EPGs.

I use iPlayer on my Sky STB as it downloads rather than streams. Obviously I pick the HD version of a programme, but increasingly now that is the signed version for some reason.

I wanted to watch a particular episode of Doctor Who. The HD one is signed, as is the first SD version. I had to do three downloads before I found one minus the midget in the corner. None of the 3 options were identified as signed in the programme data.

[madmusician]

I wonder if the with the desktop apps it was easier to then rip the files using a third-party app to make them DRM-free. I'm guessing that the number of users downloading to PC/Mac is considerably lower than when the feature was first launched, which I think was in the fairly early days of the iPlayer.

The ability to download programmes to PC actually pre-dated the ability to stream the video! Yes, in 2007 when iPlayer was first brought into public beta, it was just a programme that downloaded DRM'd video files that you then watched from the local download. 4oD was the same (and did it much better, in my view!), and it wasn't until late-2007 that the ability to stream iPlayer video through the Flash player on the iPlayer website became available. That was when iPlayer really took off as, suddenly, it was a simple as just pressing 'play' (just like YouTube) rather than having to wrestle with installing a programme, downloading files, waiting for them to download, then watching them.

[TheGregmeister]

I remember the DRM encrypted and time limited WMV files the first incarnation of BBC iPlayer offered. At the time there was a lot of fuss about it only being restricted to PC's running Windows XP, and anyone with Mac or Linux where out of luck, despite the fact the BBC has long had an obligation to be universally available to all thanks to the TVL.

(At the time there's was the loophole that it didn't require the TVL although that loophole has long since been closed.)

There was of course a way around the DRM back then (obviously long since no longer possible) with 3rd-party software (FairUse4WM IIRC also worked with 4OD) that created a near technically identical copy of the WMV files with the DRM stripped out, although this only really worked if you had Windows Media Player 9 or 10 installed on Windows XP. Once WMPv11 was out the DRM remover software wouldn't work anymore. I made sure my PC at the time stayed with WMPv10 for as long as possible!