[Ed999]

As of July 1st, any attempt to listen to the BBC Radio iPlayer is met with a refusal, unless you are signed-in to a BBC account.

To listen without signing in, there are various options (in addition to those mentioned above).


If you are running any version of the Windows operating system, edit the HOSTS file.

Add the following line (blocks the script which forces you to sign-in):

127.0.0.1 ssl.bbc.co.uk

Note: How to edit a HOSTS file - Edit HOSTS file




Listen to the live stream, using Winamp (or any media player of your choice), with one of these URLs -

http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/stream/...dio4extra_mf_p

http://bbcmedia.ic.llnwd.net/stream/...dio4extra_mf_q

http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk/bbcradio4extra.pls

Listen to the live stream, using VLC Media Player, with one of these URLs -

128 kbps stream:
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live...our_extra.m3u8
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live...our_extra.m3u8

320 kbps stream:
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live...our_extra.m3u8
http://as-hls-uk-live.akamaized.net/...%3d320000.m3u8

VLC media player is here: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/




If Andrea Lazzarotto's script doesn't display a command line (even when you replace the latest version with version 3.6.3), you might be able to get a working stream url from the following site:

http://www.iplayerconverter.co.uk/convert.aspx

To get the vpid which that site needs (an 8-digit text string):

1. Open the iPlayer page for the radio show, in Firefox.

2. Without playing that show, right-click on that page, and select 'View Page Source'.

3. Search (on the toolbar: Edit > Find) the resulting text for the phrase: "vpid"

The following 2-line batch file (name it, say, download.bat) can be used to test whether any given url works (put ffmpeg.exe in the same folder as the .bat file) -

SET url=

ffmpeg -v 16 -stats -i %url% output.mp2

Copy-and-paste the url address into the batch file, so that the SET command looks like this example -

SET url=http://aod-hls-uk-live.akamaized.net/usp/auth/vod/piff_abr_full_audio/dc7feb-b006bm2h/vf_b006bm2h_8c83614a-8af7-4054-a60c-13241d62d475.ism/mobile_wifi_main_sd_abr_v2_uk_hls_master.m3u8?__gda__=1499036530_28808d5a86fb76d13d26039fc83f8cc5

Note that a HLS stream is an mpeg stream, therefore should probably ONLY be used to download a stream in the .mp3 or .mp2 or .mpeg or .ts format. Most likely it will throw a wobbly if you use it to download in .mp4 or .m4a or .aac format.




Of course, once you have the vpid you can simply modify the following url (substitute the 8-digit vpid for the 8 zero's) -

http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/5/redir/version/2.0/vpid/00000000/mediaset/audio-syndication/proto/http

That url, once it includes the 8-digit vpid, will work successfully as the url to feed to ffmpeg in my 2-line batch file (download.bat), above.




Note: Alternatively, you might be able to get a working stream url from the following page (a HLS stream):

https://beebotron.org/listings/radio4extra/hls/

Warning - The Beebotron DASH links do not work with this method (FFMPEG can't download the audio stream from a DASH url in this format)

Note that a HLS stream is an mpeg stream, therefore should probably ONLY be used to download a stream in the .mp3 or .mp2 or .mpeg or .ts format. Most likely it will throw a wobbly if you use it to download in .mp4 or .m4a or .aac format.






This is the URL address of the xml page (replace the 8 zero's with the 8-digit vpid):

http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/5/select/version/2.0/mediaset/mobile-phone-main/transferformat/hls/vpid/00000000

The xml page displays 6 links (all .m3u8 playlist links) (and all of them HLS links), ALL six of which will download the target "Listen Again" radio show (using ffmpeg.exe and the file download.bat, above).

Note: In each url, replace all occurances of the character & with ^& to make the url work in a .bat file.


ALL six links give a 384 kbps stream when an .mp2 stream is requested, even though the page says they are only 128 kbps or 320 kbps links. ALL give an .mp2 stream when that stream is requested, even though the page says they are only mp4/aac links. Presumably both effects are a consequence of these being *playlist* links (i.e. behind the scenes - hidden from us - they give branching access to a wide range of differing streams, branches which ffmpeg can follow without additional input from you).

(That level of sophistication is something you only get with ffmpeg. Don't expect to duplicate these results with any other program.)


The six links differ only in that 4 of them give a faultless download, while 2 show errors (and of those 2, each throws different errors) -

Faultless: (http) akamai_hls_open

(https) akamai_hls_open_https

(https) af_akamai_uk_hls_https

(https) af_limelight_uk_hls_https

Errors: (http) af_akamai_uk_hls

(http) af_limelight_uk_hls

So the secure connections (_https), and the open connections (_open), fare best. The faults occur on UK connections (_uk) that are NOT secure (don't use https, i.e. no _https), which is perhaps a consequence/indication of heavier traffic on those links.

Easily the worst performance is Limelight's UK connection over http (af_limelight_uk_hls) - which lost so much data, on some occasions, that the radio show was actually incomplete.

In my tests, the very best performance (perfect download) was given ONLY by the two _open links: akamai_hls_open and akamai_hls_open_https.

I expect the two _open links to work internationally, i.e. for listeners outside the UK. (All six links work for listeners within the UK, or who connect to iPlayer through a proxy node that's within the UK.)






This is the URL address of an alternative xml page (replace the 8 zero's with the 8-digit vpid):

http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/5/select/version/2.0/mediaset/apple-ipad-hls/vpid/00000000

This xml page displays 3 links (all .m3u8 playlist links) (and all of them HLS links), ALL three of which will download the target "Listen Again" radio show (using ffmpeg.exe and the file download.bat, above).

Note: In each url, replace all occurances of the character & with ^& to make the url work in a .bat file.


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