Echo & Alexa Forums
General Category => Alexa Across the Pond (Europe) => Topic started by: Resonance on November 01, 2017, 03:57:33 am
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Hi, does anyone know if the BBC have an iplayer radio skill in the pipeline? I know I can play stations via Tunein or Radio Player, but BBC radio catch up is a problem at the moment.
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I notice they are advertising iplayer for the echo show - but I assume that's video only
for catchup on tv I tend to pair via bluetooth and play off the phone.
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Thanks for the reply Orange. Yes, I noticed they were doing iplayer for the show. As you say, probably for the TV side of it though.
My two most wanted skills are iPlayer Radio and Pocket Casts.
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I would have thought it would be fairly trivial for the bbc to get the audio steam working but I wonder how you'd select the program though ? You couldn't just say "alexa play The Archers" as it would give thousands of hits ?
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I would have thought it would be fairly trivial for the bbc to get the audio steam working but I wonder how you'd select the program though ? You couldn't just say "alexa play The Archers" as it would give thousands of hits ?
Maybe default to the latest episode, where you could ask for previous episodes. Something like........
Me "Alexa ask iPlayer to play The Archers"
iPlayer "The latest episode of the Archers is number 18,459, from Wednesday 1st November, do you want me to play it? "
Me either "Yes", or "No, play episode 18,457"
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maybe - although it gets really complicated because a lot of radio 4 stuff is repeated either on the same day or throughout the week - plus 4 extra has much of the same stuff repeated a week later (or years later !) or has an omnibus edition on a weekend. Also part of the idea of iplayer is that you can browse for things you don't even know you've missed.
I think what I'm saying is that I'm not sure how slick a voice controlled iplayer radio would be - obviously they could make you select the program via the alexa app and then stream from the echo, but this also would be a little clumsy. Don't get me wrong, I use iplayer radio all the time and it would be great to have something on the Echo, I'm just not convinced it would be as satisfying as on screen based device.
I'd extend the same argument to why it doesn't work well for shopping either IMO. "Alexa add potatoes to my shopping basket"....."Do you mean 1kg of King Edwards or 2kg of Maris Piper...etc etc "
When voice AI get's more advanced (very soon I suspect) then you'll be able to have a proper conversation with it and describe exactly what you're after but at this point Alexa isn't capable of turning on a light with 100% reliability. "I'm sorry I can't find a device called lates" so the chance of getting last weekends Gardeners' Question Time correctly is slim :)
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Yes, I see what you're saying Orange. Maybe that's why the BBC hasn't made an iPlayer Radio skill?
I guess I'll just have to stick to using Bluetooth. Would just be nice not having to use my phone/tablet to access iPlayer Radio though. Like you say maybe some time in the future when Alexa is a bit more advanced.
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The BBC have just emailed me an update of their privacy policy. One of the changes was........
Use your BBC account through voice enabled devices. Sign in to your account through Amazon Alexa, and other digital voice assistants in the future, to access all your favourite BBC radio stations and podcasts
Wonder if this is a sign that iPlayer Radio could be in the pipeline?
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interesting - although we already know there is going to be iplayer for the show and already exists for.....
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/help/amazon
also interestingly, all mention of the iplayer app for the echo show has disappeared from the amazon web page for the show ? although they do mention "BBC video flash briefing"
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That is strange. Maybe it's just that the iPlayer app is not quite ready for the Show yet, but will be in the future?
Think the Show's bigger problem is going to be Google's decision to pull YouTube.
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Think the Show's bigger problem is going to be Google's decision to pull YouTube.
Apparently it's back but still says not supported on my UK show. Cannot find anything to do with I player either for my show.
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maybe - although it gets really complicated because a lot of radio 4 stuff is repeated either on the same day or throughout the week - plus 4 extra has much of the same stuff repeated a week later (or years later !) or has an omnibus edition on a weekend. Also part of the idea of iplayer is that you can browse for things you don't even know you've missed.
The best option that I'm aware of so far are the BBC Podcasts. If Anypod isn't aware of the one you want to subscribe to you can request it. My request (Brexit cast) took about 4 days to request via a web form, get alerted by email and work 8)
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This is now available from today
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077P7TNF2/ref=sr_1_7?s=digital-skills&ie=UTF8&qid=1512985674&sr=1-7&keywords=BBC
Description
Jump into radio. Lose yourself in a podcast. This is the BBC on Alexa.
Switch between your favourite radio stations, then swap to a podcast, like Scott Mills Daily. This is the only skill that gives you every single BBC radio station and the very best BBC podcasts – instantly. Just by asking. And all without a single advert.
So you can tune in to your local station while you cook, be transported by Desert Island Discs before bed, or keep up to date with the World Service before you leave in the morning.
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This is now available from today
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077P7TNF2/ref=sr_1_7?s=digital-skills&ie=UTF8&qid=1512985674&sr=1-7&keywords=BBC
Description
Jump into radio. Lose yourself in a podcast. This is the BBC on Alexa.
Switch between your favourite radio stations, then swap to a podcast, like Scott Mills Daily. This is the only skill that gives you every single BBC radio station and the very best BBC podcasts – instantly. Just by asking. And all without a single advert.
So you can tune in to your local station while you cook, be transported by Desert Island Discs before bed, or keep up to date with the World Service before you leave in the morning.
Thanks for the info. Still no catchup unfortunatly. Could be useful for playing BBC stations, when Tunein throws a wobbly though, which it does occasionally.
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Mine all defaulted to this today instead of Tunein. My only complaint so far is that Show doesn't 'show' the station once it's playing and the app - onscreen or on iOS - doesn't show it's playing anything at all so I can't adjust the volume from there as I can with everything else. Early days, maybe.
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When I ask it to play BBC world service it just says "Hmmm I can't find that podcast". Other BBC stations work fine.
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When I ask it to play BBC world service it just says "Hmmm I can't find that podcast". Other BBC stations work fine.
When I tried, it gave me the world service but through Tunein. A work in progress!
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When I ask it to play BBC world service it just says "Hmmm I can't find that podcast". Other BBC stations work fine.
When I tried, it gave me the world service but through Tunein. A work in progress!
Yes, that happens to me if I don't specifically say "Ask BBC"
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Hm, well with 5Live and 6Music I don't have to 'Ask BBC', I get BBC whether I like it or not! Maybe they just haven't got round to the World service yet. I haven't tried any local stations, have you?
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When I ask it to play BBC world service it just says "Hmmm I can't find that podcast". Other BBC stations work fine.
When I tried, it gave me the world service but through Tunein. A work in progress!
Yes, that happens to me if I don't specifically say "Ask BBC"
If I just ask for a local BBC station it does it through Tunein. If I specifically ask BBC then it plays through that.
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It's changed again! Today when I ask for Radio 6, I get the BBC which then asks which station I want. I've a feeling tolerance of uncertainty and inconsistency is going to be a valuable personal quality for a while!
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It's changed again! Today when I ask for Radio 6, I get the BBC which then asks which station I want. I've a feeling tolerance of uncertainty and inconsistency is going to be a valuable personal quality for a while!
Indeed. It's early days yet. I'm sure they'll iron things out.
I did email them about adding radio catch up. They said there are going to be a lot of new features in the new year and will take my request on board. Could be a first class skill if they get it right. Fingers crossed :)
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It's in their interests for sure. Podcasts are hard to get to at the moment, and if you have Show, there might be access to the likes of Click. Meanwhile, pickily I'd like the station logo to be shown as it does via Tunein instead of just a quaver or whatever it is!
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I'm finding the BBC skill is dropping the stream fairly regularly now. No such problems on Tunein.
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Really? No drops here - yet - but Tunein dropped all the time. Wonder if that's a regional signal issue.
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Really? No drops here - yet - but Tunein dropped all the time. Wonder if that's a regional signal issue.
It's weird, because I've heard about a lot of people having trouble with Tunein, but I regularly listen for 8 hours+ with no issues. The new BBC Skill's streams for me usually last about 20 minutes to an hour before dropping, never to return (unless I ask the BBC skill to play a station again).
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That's my experience in reverse! I wonder how the Beeb is transmitting its signal - same as DAB radio or some other route? That might make a difference. But then what do I know? ;D
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Over the internet.
I would have thought all the Skills, BBC, Tunein and RadioPlayer are connecting to the same BBC internet streams, but then I'm not sure how to explain the different reliability we're experiencing.
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It's wizardry, obviously, no other possible explanation. And sometimes the wizard is pernickety, a bit hungover, or just plain antsy so he messes with the communication imps.
And on that note ... ;D
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Just been listening to Radio 2 on the BBC skill. It abruptly cut off after about 10 minutes. It obviously doesn't like me lol :D
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Best to treat it as a cat. Sometimes it does what you want on request, sometimes it ignores you, occasionally it does something completely unexpected, and sometimes it walks off and leaves you twiddling the fishing rod toy on your own.
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For me TuneIn was always a bit patchy - sometimes worked well for weeks on end and sometimes very glitchy.
My echos seemed to self-switch over the bbc player a week ago like everybody else but I'm finding that the stream isn't as reliable as TuneIn. Often just goes away after about an hour or so. I've deleted the skill for now as I think Tunein was better.
Another odd glitch with the BBC skill I found is that you couldn't change the volume until the stream was playing properly.........ie occasionally I wake up in the morning and say "alexa play radio 4" and then alexa responds at high volume (which I'd left it set to the previous night) ....so I immediately say "alexa volume down" ...and this then stops the stream. It's fine if you let it do the "chimes" and the "bbc announcement" then ask for the volume to be lowered. I't's just that you have to let it deafen you for short time....not good at 6:00am
First world problems I know :) but Tunein just seems more integrated.
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For me TuneIn was always a bit patchy - sometimes worked well for weeks on end and sometimes very glitchy.
My echos seemed to self-switch over the bbc player a week ago like everybody else but I'm finding that the stream isn't as reliable as TuneIn. Often just goes away after about an hour or so. I've deleted the skill for now as I think Tunein was better.
Another odd glitch with the BBC skill I found is that you couldn't change the volume until the stream was playing properly.........ie occasionally I wake up in the morning and say "alexa play radio 4" and then alexa responds at high volume (which I'd left it set to the previous night) ....so I immediately say "alexa volume down" ...and this then stops the stream. It's fine if you let it do the "chimes" and the "bbc announcement" then ask for the volume to be lowered. I't's just that you have to let it deafen you for short time....not good at 6:00am
First world problems I know :) but Tunein just seems more integrated.
Yes, I noticed the volume change issue this morning funnily enough. Agreed on the stream reliability, it's been really bad for me. It sometimes works for an hour if I'm lucky, often a lot less though.
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Agreed on the stream reliability, it's been really bad for me. It sometimes works for an hour if I'm lucky, often a lot less though.
and tunein seems much better recently :)
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Agreed on the stream reliability, it's been really bad for me. It sometimes works for an hour if I'm lucky, often a lot less though.
and tunein seems much better recently :)
Tunein has always been very reliable for me. Saying that I only got my first Echo a few months ago, so maybe the problems were ironed out before then.
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Not sure is this problem has been resolved without reading through all the posts on this thread. All I know is that BBC radio iplayer is available - please see http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/radio/amazon-alexa. All I had to do was say "Alexa, enable the BBC skill." Then instruct it for whatever you want.
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Not sure is this problem has been resolved without reading through all the posts on this thread. All I know is that BBC radio iplayer is available - please see http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/radio/amazon-alexa. All I had to do was say "Alexa, enable the BBC skill." Then instruct it for whatever you want.
the BBC skill is not really iPlayer, in the sense it have very few of the features that most implementations of Radio iPlayer have. You can play real streams and listen to a podcast (if you know the name of it) - the streaming works reasonably well (apart from the annoying 10 second chime and announcement that it's the BBC .... I know it's the BBC - it's what I requested !) but the podcast playback is very poor