BBC iPlayer beta arrives; 13,000 people protest; Is Silverlight the answer?

The new and improved BBC iPlayer went into beta this Friday.

Past versions of the service have been widely criticized for their incompatibility with many PCs, set-top boxes, Mac OS X, Linux and mobile phones. And now the latest version is under fire. 13,000+ UK residents have already signed a petition in protest of it’s tie to Windows. Apparently, not only is it Windows only, but it’s only compatible with XP.

The problem lies in DRM support. Vista and XP handle WMV DRM differently and it’s not an option on the MAC. With DRM being the centerpiece of the application it has been a roadblock to cross-platform compatibility.

Simon Perry at Digital Lifestyles has an interesting piece on how Silverlight could be the iPlayer’s Silver Bullet.