BBC creates new Mac-compatible version of iPlayer

London, December 20 (ANI): The BBC has come up with a new version of the iPlayer that works with Mac and Linux computers.

The BBC, which had developed the service to extend its existing RealPlayer-based "Radio Player" and other streamed video clip content, had come under fire for producing a version that only worked with Microsoft's Windows XP.

The online service, that had gone live on 25 December 2007, used to use Microsoft's digital rights management (DRM) system to enforce viewing restrictions, reports the Telegraph.

However, the new version, known as BBC iPlayer Desktop, had been created with Adobe's AIR technology that sought to make it possible to build applications that can be downloaded to the computer.

The BBC's head of digital media technology, Anthony Rose, insisted that the new system, which now supported three separate DRM technologies, Microsoft, Adobe, and the OMA standards for mobiles, catered to the demand to be "platform neutral".While the trial version of the iPlayer Desktop was available from the Labs section of the site, a completed version is expected to be released in February.

Rose said: "The BBC Trust said we could make content available for seven or 30 days after broadcast." (ANI)