Badge technology blog

Is the BBC really switching to wma?

I've just noticed a press release which arrived today from Sonos, which says that: "Due to recent developments at the BBC, Sonos (, the provider of wireless music systems for the digital home, now has access to many key BBC radio stations."

How so? It says:

The BBC has recently taken the decision to move all of its digital audio content to WMA format (Windows Media Audio.) This allows all Sonos owners to able to stream BBC radio stations across their Sonos music systems.

Comment: I'm not sure what this means, since I can already listen to a dozen BBC radio stations (BBC Asian Network, BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4 (Digital), Radio 4 (LW), Five Live, Five Live Sports Extra, BBC 6 Music, BBC 7 and BBC World Service) using only Windows Media Player. If a Roku Soundbridge could make use of these WMA streams last year, why couldn't Sonos?

Otherwise, I can understand why the BBC wants to get away from Real Media, but there's no obvious reason why it couldn't move to AAC+. Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) already uses AAC for music broadcasting, and I expect DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) to go the same way next week -- though this might be embarassing for the BBC, which is still flogging a 1995-vintage DAB based on MP2.

Users can listen to AAC+ via Winamp or the VLC media player, for example, or use the Orban plug-in with Windows Media Player.

Today's best video