Video streaming service Iplayer is now in beta for the Mac and Linux.
Since Iplayer’s the initial launch in July 2007, it has been bringing the delights of the British Broadcasting Corporation to a wider audience, people who don’t have time to sit and watch it whilst it’s on, but want to download and watch it later – but only if they had a Windows-running PC. This caused a bit of an uproar amongst the Mac and Linux crowd and the inevitable internet petition ensued.
The reason for this delay to non-Windows lovers? No-one would support the DRM involved (BBC program will self-delete after one week, usually), but now that it has Adobe AIR, the technology can be passed onto both the Mac and Linux.
The full Iplayer is looking to be released in the first quarter of 2009, and it will also replace the Kontiki version that’s currently running on the PC.
To those of you already bored with TV, it may not seem like much but since its launch, iPlayer has found its audience growing substantially, notching up more than one million program requests per day during November and 237 million program requests in total since the service’s launch.
