[Ed999]

Having now had a couple of days to review all the download solutions, in my opinion the simplest is the following.


STEP 1: Get the vpid (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"

NB: You might use Internet Explorer instead. Some versions ( e.g. Internet Explorer 8 ) allow you to view a page's source (on the toolbar: View > Source).


STEP 2: 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

The media player Media Player Classic - Home Cinema (a.k.a "MPC-HC") can play this url, if the vpid is substituted for the 8 zero's.

Get MPC-HC here: https://mpc-hc.org OR https://mpc-hc.org/downloads/

On Windows 7 64-bit I recommend this version: MPC-HC.1.7.10.x64.exe

STEP 3: To download the radio show, create the following .bat file -

a. Create a plain text file, and name it: download.bat

b. Open that file using NOTEPAD.EXE (or any simple text editor), then copy-and-paste the following 2 lines into it -

SET url=
ffmpeg  -v 16  -stats  -i %url%  "output.mp2"

c. After url=, paste the MODIFIED url from STEP 2, containing the actual 8-digit vpid (in place of the 8 zero's)

d. Save the file. Make certain you save it with the extension .bat (NOT .txt)

e. Put ffmpeg.exe in the same folder as the .bat file

Get it here: https://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/

f. Double-click the .bat file to run it

When you have copied the url address into the .bat file, in step 3c, that file should look like this example -

SET url=http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/5/redir/version/2.0/vpid/12345678/mediaset/audio-syndication/proto/http
ffmpeg  -v 16  -stats  -i %url%  "output.mp2"

Note that a HLS stream is an mpeg stream, therefore can probably ONLY be used to download a stream in the .mp3 or .mp2 or .mpeg or .ts format (i.e. the output file should be named output.mp3 or output.mp2 or output.mpeg or output.ts). Obviously, call it what you like; but (to avoid problems) it should have the .mp3 or .mp2 or .mpeg or .ts extension.


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