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Watch the Beeb on your PC

But don’t ditch your TV yet if you’re a Mac user, says
linton chiswick

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The BBC's much-anticipated iPlayer enables you to download and view BBC television programmes on your computer.

On Friday, the iPlayer was made available on a first-come-first-served basis to an unpublicised but strictly limited number. By Sunday, 13,500 people had signed an e-Petition demanding the Government force the BBC to untangle the iPlayer from proprietary Microsoft technology. Reviewers were condemning the player as 'buggy' and unreliable, and - proving that internet time

 

('iTime', if you will) moves fast - it had already been hacked into. Respect for the law prevents me from revealing its name, but
Motorstorm image

there's software available that will strip the Digital Rights Management (DRM) from any BBC show downloaded from the website.

DRM is never popular. In this instance it adds a self-destruct element to every downloaded BBC programme, limiting its life to 30 days or a single viewing, whichever comes first. It also limits viewing to the BBC's iPlayer software, and this is what's causing all the havoc. The iPlayer will operate on

 

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