how to download bbc radio programmes using get_iplayer
First, a couple of things to know about get_iplayer:
get_iplayer is the shit. if you can play it on the bbc website, this thing can download it for you. it’s basically the greatest.Â
it's maintained pretty much singlehandedly by dinkypumpkin, whom I consider a saint on the level of xkit guy
it's a command line interface program, which means that instead of having a fancy user interface it looks like this:
wait stop come back it's really easy I promise.
The website has a TON of guides and help pages and forums and all the documentation you could ever want, really, so I'm not going to go into a ton of detail here, but I will show you my setup for downloading the breakfast show.
Step 1: download and install get_iplayer from https://squarepenguin.co.uk/
Step 2: open the program (or in linux open a terminal).
Step 3: get yourself configured properly. here's what's in my config file:
output = ~/Downloads  tells it where to put the files
subdir = 1Â Â creates folders for each show
whitespace = 1Â Â kills underscores
thumbsize = 640Â Â fixes the default thumbnail size
type = radio  ignores tv listings
refreshinclude = radio 1Â Â makes sure to find R1 when it searches
nopurge = 1Â Â keeps everything forever
tag_podcast = 1Â Â makes itunes treat it like a podcast
radiomode = worst  keeps the filesize reasonable
If you want to make your configuration look like mine, type or copy/paste this:
get_iplayer --prefs-add --output ~/Downloads --subdir --whitespace --thumbsize 640 --type radio --refreshinclude "radio 1" --nopurge --tag-podcast --radiomode worst
You will probably need to change the output path to your own downloads folder or wherever you want to put things.
Step 4: Now we're going to search for every radio show with Nick's name in it:
get_iplayer "nick grimshaw" --refresh
Step 5: READY SET DOWNLOAD. Take your search string and add --get to the end. So:
get_iplayer "nick grimshaw" --get
This will download everything from the last 7 days. Once you build up a download history it will only grab new episodes. And now you’re good to go!
open get_iplayer (or a terminal in linux)
type or paste
get_iplayer "nick grimshaw" --get
or up-arrow to get the most recent command, if that works
make a cup of tea while it downloads
upload to your favorite filesharing site
Some very basic troubleshooting techniques:
if the newest episode isn't showing up add --refresh to the command and try again
if you want to get only the newest episode you can add --since=24 to the command and it will limit the search to episodes from the last 24 hours
if the file is broken you can delete it from the download folder and try again but you will have to add --force (make sure you add --since=24 too or it will re-download everything from the past 30 days)
Some more advanced troubleshooting techniques:
https://squarepenguin.co.uk/guides/
https://squarepenguin.co.uk/faqs/
https://squarepenguin.co.uk/forums/
I can help if you ask but really the website knows more than I do
PVR! aka the great unknown
get_iplayer has a super-powerful PVR function that will automatically download things for you (the Dream tbh), but I could never make it work with my weird computer setup so I cannot help you. The official guide is here: https://squarepenguin.co.uk/guides/get_iplayer-pvr-guide/ godspeed friends
