Because geek is cool and clever

(Not) getting to grips with iPlayer August 9, 2007

This week you find me in a state of heightened irritation and frustration.

I feel like I’ve been through more hoops than a show dog at Crufts – and all in an effort to achieve something I’m actually not all that bothered about.

I’ve done my utmost to try out the BBC’s iPlayer software for the sake of this column and I’d like to report the success I’ve been enjoying downloading and watching television programmes I missed over the past seven days.

That’s what I would like to be reporting. Unfortunately, my actual experience has been quite to the contrary.

Like many others, I was already disappointed that upon its release a couple of weeks ago the iPlayer was only available for a specific type of computer. You need Windows XP, Internet Explorer and Media Player 11 – a veritable Microsoft lockdown if ever there was one.

The BBC claims that it will eventually bring out the software to run on Macs and Linux-based machines but, frankly, I’m not holding my breath.

My initial problem was this required platform. Despite owning a brace of computers, none of them meet the demands perfectly. I can offer Ubuntu Linux, Mac OS – even Windows Vista and I have an old laptop that still runs XP but it’s somewhat underpowered and needs an inconvenient wired connection to the internet.

My work computer was the only one I could use for the experiment so in the office one day, I set about my task.

You can’t just download iPlayer; you have to ask nicely for it. I’d already sent off a request some days earlier which eventually came back with an invitation and password to grab the software which I promptly did.

I found the install process clunky and unreliable and it actually took a couple of attempts to get it on my computer. Finally successful, I breathed a sigh of relief and put the dodgy experience behind me. I was now ready to sit back and download a sample programme.

But now it wanted another password for a BBC membership account which I had to go and sign up for.

New password entered, I expectantly clicked a random show. This was it.

Except it wasn’t.

“iPlayer has detected that you are currently outside of the UK. You need to be inside the UK to use this service.”

BitTorrent, you remain my best friend.