Catch up with TV using BBC iPlayer

After a seemingly endless testing period, the BBC has officially launched its iPlayer software.

This is the BBC’s attempt at the sort of ‘catch-up TV’ service already offered by rivals such as ITV and Channel 4, allowing viewers to watch programs that have been broadcast within the last seven days for free.

However, iPlayer uses digital rights management (DRM) to prevent piracy, so don’t expect to be able to copy programme recordings or even to store them permanently on your computer. It is intended only as a handy way of catching up on recent programs that you may have missed.

In the Workshops section of Computeractive issue 261 we show how to download and use iPlayer. So, refer to the magazine and then click to be transferred to the BBC's iPlayer home page.