@christopher: > Ooo ooo oo oo oo oo oo oo, *FLAC streaming*? Lossless WMA?
If you'd be happy trebling your licence fee, and explaining why everyone else has to... (grin)... but I've plenty of experience adding odd formats to radio stations which don't have many listeners, thanks. @briantist: Obviously I'm hoping that everything that's on the iPlayer Radio will come > as MP3s and the existing podcasts will be better quality (I would personally > prefer a VBR stereo "In Our Time" than the current mono one). VBR is something we've not actually looked at, as far as I'm aware. That's a good and interesting thought - I'll consult with the clever people to see if there are benefits for downloads. We are, though, not encoding everything that the same rate; it depends on what the content is; there are four different encoding profiles that we've identified. More though will need to wait for the blog - and don't read this into saying that we're making everything available as MP3 downloads; naturally, we're not. We can't. It's probably way, way too late to ask for this, but how about having > pre-compression (audio compression that is) versions of BBC Radio 3 and > 1Xtra as, at least, an option. I can listen to my classical and drum n bass > at home with their piano to forte range, would be great to have the same > range from BBC radio. I understand why DAB and FM need to have the analogue > audio compression, but a "clear" version online would be cheap and satisfy > the audiophiles. In fact, there are separate audio-processing techniques for all outputs - so FM is treated differently to DAB and to DTV. But, as you ask, we'll use the "least-processed" output for our higher bitrate streams. And honestly, you wouldn't want studio levels; they're a very unpleasant listen (says an ex radio presenter who used to monitor levels by ensuring that the red light didn't flash too much). Radio programmes are produced with the audio-processing in mind; indeed, that's what the presenters hear in their headphones. > Also I'm pleased to hear that the word "open" is being used in BBC circles > - and without being an expletive (I presume). I discussed part of the "FM&T" (future media and technology) core values a few times with different colleagues - and always, without fail, "open" has been the most well-received word. j
