[Linux-aus] New ABC services

[James Purser]

On Wed, 2008-03-12 at 21:14 +1100, Andrew Donnellan wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> In case you haven't heard the ABC is launching some new online
> services over the next few months[0] which sound really awesome:
> 
> * ABC Playback - three online high quality customisable TV channels
> * ABC Shop Downloads - digital versions of various ABC products
> 
> This sounds to me like what the BBC did with the iPlayer.
> 
> However, from what I gather from their videos, it seems that the new
> services will use Flash and/or some form of DRM - a 'rent' option is
> available for the shop downloads - and probably isn't too
> FLOSS-friendly.
> 
> While of course the ABC is too far in the development of Playback and
> Downloads right now to make something more Linux-friendly, I suggest
> we start a bit of petitioning and formal complaining about it.

Andrew,

I actually picked this up last December when it was first announced so I
shot off an email to the ABC to ask about both Linux Development and Ogg
take up vs Mp3/RealMedia.

Here's the response I got:

Dear James,

Thank you for your message regarding ABC Now.  ABC Now does have a  
little similarity to the BBC's iPlayer but is not intended to be the  
same service - instead we offer a way for our audience to aggregate a  
selection of our most current radio, TV, news, sport and weather  
content into a small desktop application.

With regard to your query regarding a Linux version - due to the  
technical requirements of ABC Now we have been unable to find a  
robust and secure tool for making the Flash based code into a stable  
Linux version at this time.

We are keeping an eye on developments in this area and hope to bring  
a Linux version to you as soon as practicable.

In terms of our use of Real Player with ABC Now - our audience has  
the choice to use either Real Player or Windows Media to listen to  
live radio via ABC Now, and this is because we are aggregating live  
streams from around ABC Online which use these formats.  In the  
future we are hoping that all live streams will be offered in mp3  
format so that we can drop the need for Real/Windows from ABC Now but  
this is yet to be resolved.  We've passed your feedback regarding  
this issue onto our production team and technical staff.

Kind regards,
The ABC Now team.

http://abc.net.au/now


-- 
James Purser
http://collaboration.jamespurser.com.au
Mob: 0406 576 553
Ph: +61 2 8210 6725