What has happened to radio 4 extra and other internet radio from BBC?

[ericmark]

My Google Nest mini's have stopped getting radio 4 extra, BBC radio sounds seems to work, but radio 1 seems to have gone as well.

 

[JohnD]

Mine was OK for 4extra this afternoon.

Using a SusieQ

Currently working on my tablet

 

[Rodders53]

Reports of issues for some since Wednesday.

Why can't I listen to live BBC radio on my Google speaker? | BBC Sounds

*** Wednesday 5 April *** We're aware of reports that live BBC streams aren't working on some Google Home, Nest and Mini devices. We are investigating and will update this page when we know more. In the meantime, affected users may wish to cast to their speaker from the BBC Sounds mobile app.

www.bbc.co.uk

I got a "I can't do that yet" response when I tried it yesterday and today.

 

[ericmark]

Thanks, I have forwarded report to my wife, at least I know not my end which is faulty.

 

[opps]

Weirdly, when Virgin Media crashed a couple of days ago, I could get BBC sounds but no access to (HTML) websites.

 

[flameport]

They want you to use their Sounds app for everything, as apparently using services and devices that people already have is far too inconvenient.

 

[securespark]

Who for?

 

[ericmark]

They want you to use their Sounds app for everything, as apparently using services and devices that people already have is far too inconvenient.

Wonder how I can do that, should I contact Nest? Would hey google install BBC sounds app work, it read it as a question not a command.

 

[JohnD]

I don't use the app.

I use

BBC Sounds - Stations & Schedules

See on-air schedules for every BBC radio station. Select a station to find out what time your favourite DJ or show is on air.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[ericmark]

I have not a clue how Google Nest Mini's gets the content it plays, I say hey google play radio 4 extra or hey google how do you spell schedules and in the main it does what is asked, it does some times put wrong light on when I say hey google put on the landing light, and I can go into google home and change names of functions, but in the main it does it all for me.

It was bought as terrestrial radio and TV does not really work in the village I live in now. I have one other radio ham I can talk to on two meters, and I can some times pick up the railways repeater so know what the local trains are doing, but in the main connection to outside world is either internet or satellite, I can select radio stations on the TV, but having the screen lit up for radio seems a waste.

So the Nest Mini's allow me to get radio, and also do things like say hey google broadcast Linda make me some coffee, although in the main it works other way around, I am told to make her coffee. But they have worked well, OK some times they are like mischievous little boys, but in the main they work.

 

[opps]

They want you to use their Sounds app for everything, as apparently using services and devices that people already have is far too inconvenient.

To be fair, you can listen to anything available on the sounds app via a desktop browser.

As an erstwhile Windows Phone owner, I was pretty pee'd off when Aunty Beeb decided to force us users of (the Trident based) edge browser to use an app that they hadn't even bother developing. I had to use an un-official app just to listen to real time BBC radio over the internet on my phone.

I can see why they want people to use the Sounds app. Some of the content has time limited rights. The app will remove downloaded content then those rights have expired.

On my PC... I have been known to use the completely free Get-iPlayer software on my laptop to download BBC content (video/audio). I think it must have a bug though. For some reason, anything I download is available to watch or listen to without time restrictions.

GitHub - get-iplayer/get_iplayer: A utility for downloading TV and radio programmes from BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds

A utility for downloading TV and radio programmes from BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds - GitHub - get-iplayer/get_iplayer: A utility for downloading TV and radio programmes from BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds

github.com

It is command line based, but not too difficult to use. You search for the content you want, that content will have a PID (personal ID number), you then tell the software to download the content. If you are interested in a series, you need to make a note of each individual episode's PID.

It will then download the content to your designated folder without any encryption.

My (lay) understanding is that the (computer) program is not breaking any copyright laws. You deciding to retain the content longer than was expected is probably illegal though. One could argue that there are parallels with video taping stuff from the TV. I might be wrong but I think you were legally required to delete those recordings after two years.

 

[ericmark]

It has returned, we have radio 4 extra again, what ever was wrong has been fixed.

 

[opps]

They were talking about it on You and Yours on Friday. Apparently it was down to the fact that the BBC moved their live radio content from one streaming platform to be exclusively available via BBC sounds.