Radio Downloader News

Radio Downloader 0.26.2

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:30:39 +0000

I have just released version 0.26.2 of Radio Downloader. This minor update fixes the layout of the BBC Radio Find Programme A-Z pages as well as a small number of other common crashes and reported issues with the previous version.

For full details of the changes in this release, please see the changelog.

Radio Downloader and Norton Antivirus

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 20:15:58 +0100

I've had a few reports since releasing version 0.26 of Radio Downloader of it being removed from people's machines by Norton Antivirus due to it having a 'low reputation score'. I'd like to take the opportunity to reassure you that Radio Downloader is still perfectly safe. The installer and binaries are signed with my personal code signing certificate to prove that they haven't been tampered with, and the full source code is of course also available to download to prove that it doesn't contain any nasties!

Unfortunately the way to get Radio Downloader whitelisted by Symantec (the author of Norton Antivirus) appears to be for me to fill out rather a large form on their website and then wait several weeks for it to be approved. As I'd rather spend my limited free time improving and supporting Radio Downloader instead of doing Symantec's job for them, I've decided not to do this for the moment.

If you are being affected by this issue, I'd recommend uninstalling Norton Antivirus from your machine and replacing it with the free and excellent Microsoft Security Essentials, which I have been using for years and would recommend most highly.

Radio Downloader 0.26

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 18:09:58 +0100

I am pleased to announce the release of version 0.26 of Radio Downloader. This includes a fix for the minor layout issues with the Find Programme pages for BBC Radio programmes, as well as other bug fixes and new features.

This release includes the following major enhancements:

More than 30 episodes of BBC Radio Programmes can now be downloaded.
Automatic download of subscribed episodes is now limited to 14 days to prevent accidental mass additions to the downloads list.
Episode images for unavailable programmes are now removed from the application database to prevent it growing so quickly.

There are also quite a number of smaller enhancements and bug fixes to address common issues and crashes - for full details, please see the changelog.

Radio Downloader 0.24.2

Sun, 27 May 2012 14:39:16 +0100

I've just made a bug-fix release of Radio Downloader. This contains fixes for five of the most commonly experienced crashes as well as for a number of other reported issues.

I have also updated the download page to provide links to both the 32- and 64-bit Windows installers and recommend the correct download for you (if appropriate).

Radio Downloader 0.24

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 20:22:50 +0000

I've just released version 0.24 of Radio Downloader. This fixes the recent issues with the Find Programme pages for BBC Radio programmes, as well as including new features and bug fixes.

The main new features are multiple select in the available episodes list and parallel episode downloads. There are also a number of smaller enhancements and bug-fixes for common crashes and issues - for full details, please see the changelog.

Radio Downloader 0.22

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:16:31 +0000

I'm pleased to announce the release of version 0.22 of Radio Downloader.

This release adds a number of new features including:

Optional direct download of BBC Radio AAC streams without re-encoding.

Subscriptions to 'one-off' programmes.

Greatly enhanced cleanup options for downloads.
The option to update existing downloads when specifying a new download location or naming template.

There are also a number of smaller enhancements and bug-fixes for common crashes and issues - for full details, please see the changelog.

Radio Downloader 0.20.2

Fri, 27 May 2011 16:31:54 +0100

I've just released a minor update to Radio Downloader. This fixes the most commonly reported crashes and adds a small number of minor enhancements.

For full details of the changes in this release, please check out the changelog.

Radio Downloader 0.20

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 16:17:43 +0100

I've just released version 0.20 of Radio Downloader.

The main change in this release is that the entire application and its providers have been converted from VB.net to C#. This due to better support for C#, to enable compilation on other platforms (with Mono), and to encourage contributions (as C# is more popular).

The release also brings some small enhancements and bug fixes. Notable among these are fixes / work-arounds for two issues with downloading episodes from the new BBC station Radio 4 Extra. For a full list of what has changed you can check out the changelog.

Please Note: Upgrading to version 0.20 from 0.18.2 or earlier will reset any application or provider options - this is due to the switch to C#. Your favourites, subscriptions and downloads will be unaffected.

Radio Downloader and Radio 4 Extra

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 19:04:53 +0100

Since BBC Radio 7 was re-branded to BBC Radio 4 Extra, there have been problems downloading episodes broadcast on this station in Radio Downloader. This isn't caused by anything hard-coded within the application, but by some of the metadata that the BBC generates altering for programmes on this station.

I have fixed the main problem which was causing all downloads from Radio 4 Extra to fail with an "Unknown Error". This fix is available in beta version 0.19, which I'm making available for the moment while I investigate the other issues.

I'll try and make another news posting at some point over the weekend when I've got a clearer idea of how easy the other issue(s) are to fix and rough timescales.

Radio Downloader 0.18.2

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 17:28:33 +0000

I've just made a bugfix release of Radio Downloader available.

This fixes the recent problems with the BBC Radio A-Z programme listing, as well as a couple of other small issues. For full details, see the changelog.

Radio Downloader 0.18

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 12:23:09 +0100

I am pleased to announce the release of version 0.18 of Radio Downloader.

This release brings two main new features - a 'Favourites' tab, which gives a place to store a list of programmes for quick access (without having new episodes downloaded automatically), and a word wheel type search against title and description in the Downloads list.

Additionally, a number of bugs have been fixed, including BBC Radio downloads no-longer being truncated at approximately 3:22 for some users, and a couple of resource leaks. For a full list of what is different you can check out the changelog.

Radio Downloader 0.16

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:53:04 +0100

I'm pleased to announce the release of version 0.16 of Radio Downloader.

The most visible change in this release is that the main views bar is now styled to display tabs instead of buttons, which makes the application more intuitive. The styling updates also include changes under Vista and Windows 7 to make the application feel more integrated.

This release also makes having Radio Downloader run on start-up per user and optional, and includes a number of other bug fixes and changes. For a full list of what is different you can check out the changelog.

Radio Downloader 0.14.2

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:29:19 +0100

I've just released a minor update to Radio Downloader. This release does not include any new features, but fixes the most commonly reported crashes in version 0.14, along with a number of other issues.

For full details of the changes in this release, please check out the changelog.

Radio Downloader 0.14

Sun, 23 May 2010 17:29:22 +0100

I've just released an update to Radio Downloader. This resolves the AAC stream download issues experienced by non-UK users since the 20th May, and the problem of older downloads hanging and blocking newer downloads.

This release also brings customisable, sortable columns in the Downloads view which remember their chosen order and widths, as well as an optional new 'Duration' column. Status information is now displayed in Windows 7 using taskbar overlays.

There are quite a number of fixes for a range of other bugs, which are listed in the changelog.

Radio Downloader 0.12

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 09:49:08 +0100

I'm pleased to announce the release of an update to Radio Downloader. This resolves the MP3 download issues experienced by UK users over the last few days, as well as a number of other bug fixes and improvements.

This version has had considerable internal refactoring to make much greater use of threads for long-running operations (among other things). The result of this is that although the application appears the same, many of the actions that previously caused the interface to pause or hang now do not. This also lays the foundation for future enhancements such as configurable columns and sorting.

For full details of the changes in this release, please check out the changelog.

Radio Downloader Status Update

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 07:14:15 +0100

No sooner than I had posted the news yesterday I started finding out that most of it was wrong. I believe that I have now tracked down the problem, which as far as I understand is only affecting MP3 direct downloads, and doesn't look like it was intentional.

I hope to release an update in the next few days (all being well) to resolve the problem.

Radio Downloader Issue

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:00:52 +0100

As far as I'm aware, all BBC Radio programmes are failing to download in Radio Downloader at the moment. This appears to have been caused by a change made at the BBC's end around 11am yesterday morning. I'm assuming that this is intentional (although I may be wrong), as it doesn't appear to be affecting the streaming iPlayer.

I'm looking in to it and I will post further information when I know more.

Radio Downloader 0.10.2

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:14:22 +0000

I've just released a minor update to Radio Downloader. The application code is unchanged from version 0.10, but I have updated the bundled Mplayer binary to a full build instead of the smaller one that I was using before.

This should resolve the issue that I previously mentioned with international users incorrectly getting AAC streams transcoded to mono.

Radio Downloader Update

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:07:46 +0000

Just a quick update to let you know that I am aware that Radio Downloader is incorrectly producing mono files for some BBC Radio programmes for users outside of the UK.

I believe that I have found the cause and the fix is currently being tested. All being well, I hope to release an update which resolves the issue in a week or so.

Radio Downloader 0.10

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:36:03 +0000

Today I have released version 0.10 of Radio Downloader. This release removes the final dependencies on the BBC's Real Audio streams by implementing re-encoding MP3 streams to different bitrates, and falling back to encoding AAC streams to MP3 if there are no MP3 streams available (such as currently for a number of episodes for users outside the UK).

For full details of what has changed in this release, please see the changelog.

Radio Downloader and BBC Radio

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:00:57 +0000

I've recently become aware that most recently broadcast BBC Radio Programmes do not have either Real Audio or MP3 streams available for international users. This means that Radio Downloader is unable to download these programmes outside of the UK.

I'm currently working on a solution, and I hope to release an updated version which will fix the problems for international users in the next few weeks. This issue doesn't affect UK based users.

Radio Downloader 0.8.4

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:10:04 +0000

I have just released version 0.8.4 of Radio Downloader. This is the second bugfix release in the 0.8 series, and does not include any new features.

The fixes in this release allow the most commonly reported MP3 download errors to display informative error messages. For full details, check out the changelog.

Radio Downloader 0.8.2

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 10:05:25 +0000

Today I have released version 0.8.2 of Radio Downloader. This is a bugfix release, and does not include any new features.

Most of the fixes relate to direct MP3 downloads, but there is also a fix for a crash caused by a missing My Documents folder. For full details, check out the changelog.

Radio Downloader and Windows 7

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:58:24 +0000

With the release of version 0.8 yesterday, I have added Windows 7 as a supported operating system for Radio Downloader. I've also dropped support for Windows 2000 - this doesn't mean that I will block it from working on 2000, but I won't be routinely testing it on that OS from now on.

Radio Downloader works fine on Windows 7, but due to the updated behaviour of the system tray, the icon for Radio Downloader is not displayed when the main window is closed. A workaround for this is to right-click on the Radio Downloader icon in the taskbar when the main window is open and choose 'Pin this program to taskbar'. This will then keep the Radio Downloader icon on the taskbar when the window is closed, and can be used to re-open the window.

I've raised a number of bugs for improving integration with Windows 7 and the new taskbar, and I hope to address these over the next few releases.

Radio Downloader 0.8

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:47:20 +0000

I'm pleased to announce the release of Radio Downloader 0.8. The main feature added with this release is that BBC Radio programmes are directly downloaded as MP3 instead of Real Audio. This requires far less CPU power, and is able to download BBC Local and Nations Radio programmes again.

The direct MP3 download does not currently support re-encoding the downloaded MP3 files to other bitrates and frequencies, so I have added a setting in the BBC Provider options to disable the direct download option for users who require this.

This release also brings a small number of other bug fixes and enhancements, which you can find in the changelog.

BBC Real Audio Streams

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:40:50 +0100

Just a quick update about Radio Downloader - the BBC have made a blog posting about their plans to phase out the Real Audio streams that they generate for their radio programmes (which Radio Downloader uses to download and convert).

As I noted previously, they have already done this for local (and nations) radio, and have said that they will phase them out for national radio by the 30th of March 2010.

However, my implementation of an alternative method of downloading is progressing well, and I hope to start testing a new version of Radio Downloader containing this in the next couple of weeks.

Radio Downloader and BBC Local Radio

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:01:32 +0100

There currently seems to be a problem with Radio Downloader downloading episodes of BBC Local Radio programmes. This appears to be caused by the BBC not generating the Real Audio stream that Radio Downloader downloads and converts any more. I don't know if this is temporary, or a permanent change.

I'll be looking at alternative ways to access this content, but this may take some time to implement so I can't give a timescale at present.

Radio Downloader 0.6

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:12:15 +0100

Today I have released a new version of Radio Downloader. This resolves an issue with available episodes for a limited number of BBC programmes not being found, as well as fixing the most commonly reported error encountered when downloading programmes.

This release also adds the ability to use sub-folders in the downloaded programme file name template, and a number of other fixes and enhancements, which you can find in the changelog.

Please Note: There is a data loss bug in older versions of Radio Downloader, which causes the program database to become corrupted when updating between versions. This is fixed in version 0.6, but reverting to an older release of Radio Downloader (which is normally something that I would advise against) will cause your database to become permanently corrupted!

Radio Downloader 0.5.10

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:04:35 +0100

I've just released a small update to Radio Downloader. This release fixes the problem with selecting new multi-episode programmes that I mentioned previously.

This release is the first to benefit from the recent changes to the installer - just download and run the installer, and the old version will be uninstalled automatically.

Radio Downloader Problem

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:09:28 +0100

Currently, trying to select a new multi-episode BBC Radio programme in Radio Downloader causes an error. This has been caused by the BBC tinkering with the structure of their programme pages again.

I believe that I've found the solution, and I'm just in the process of validating it. I hope to release an update to Radio Downloader with the fix in the next few days.

Radio Downloader 0.5.8

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:26:41 +0100

I'm pleased to announce the release of Radio Downloader 0.5.8. This fixes the problems with browsing for BBC Radio programmes, and adds the ability to specify the MP3 encoding options for BBC Radio programmes. It also includes quite a number of other bugfixes and enhancements which you can find in the changelog.

This release also removes the automatic update feature, as it was unfortunately proving too time consuming and difficult to support. However, Radio Downloader will still notify you of new versions, and you can be kept up to date with the new Radio Downloader news feed. To make the process of installing updated versions easier, I've streamlined the installer and laid the groundwork for future releases to be installed without having to uninstall the old version first.

Radio Downloader Problems

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:27:52 +0100

Currently, trying to select a new multi-episode BBC Radio programme in Radio Downloader causes an error message to be displayed. This is caused by a change that the BBC made recently, which has broken Radio Downloader slightly.

I'm in the process of testing a new version of Radio Downloader at the moment, which fixes this problem (amongst other things), and should be released in the next few days.

Radio Downloader 0.5.6

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 10:02:06 +0100

Today I have released a new version of Radio Downloader, fixing the problems with browsing for BBC Radio programmes by genre and format.

This release also adds the feature of ID3 tagging downloaded BBC Radio episodes and improves the accessibility of the application from the keyboard. See the changelog for full details of what has changed in this release.

Radio Downloader Update

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:38:50 +0100

A quick update about Radio Downloader - currently browsing for new BBC Radio programmes by genre or format is broken. The workaround is to use the A to Z option for the moment. This problem should be resolved in the next release.

Radio Downloader 0.5.4

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:57:55 +0000

Today I have released an update to Radio Downloader. This is mostly a bugfix release, which should also resolve the problem selecting or downloading any BBC Radio programmes - see the changelog for full details.

This release should also fix an issue experienced by some users, which causes updates to repeatedly fail. If you are currently experiencing this problem, uninstall Radio Downloader and download and install the latest version (this will not lose the items in your downloads or subscriptions list).

If you find Radio Downloader useful, I would very much appreciate your donations to cover my costs.

Radio Downloader 0.5.3.1

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 10:30:34 +0000

Today I have made available a point release of Radio Downloader. This fixes a crash when minimizing the application (sorry!), as well as resolving a small problem with the statistics in the Downloads view.

Radio Downloader 0.5.3

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:18:58 +0000

I have just released an update to Radio Downloader, which mostly contains interface improvements postponed from previous releases. These should particularly benefit Windows Vista users, although there are also improvements for users on XP and 2000 as well.

This release also fixes some reported bugs relating to database compaction - see the changelog for full details.

I have also taken the opportunity to put together a help page for Radio Downloader, with some basic information to assist users.

Radio Downloader 0.5.2.1

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:17:58 +0100

Today I have made available a point release of Radio Downloader. This fixes a problem with selecting new BBC Radio programmes, as well as resolving an issue some users experienced when upgrading to the 0.5.* series.

Radio Downloader 0.5.2

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:31:11 +0100

Today I released a bugfix update to Radio Downloader. This fixes a problem experienced by some users when finding new BBC Radio Programmes. Check out the changelog for full details.

Radio Downloader 0.5.1

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:51:57 +0100

I have just released a minor update to Radio Downloader. This addresses the most pressing issues with the 0.5.0 release, namely adding a proper interface for finding BBC Radio programmes and reverting the file naming behaviour to the same as previous releases (but with new extra options).

Radio Downloader 0.5

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:38:47 +0100

Today I have released a major update to Radio Downloader. The main areas of change relate to how it stores data and interacts with plugins.

Due to the fact that the previous version had stopped working properly with the BBC's Listen Again service, this release has been put out with a number of rough edges, which include the following known issues:

Some BBC Radio subscriptions may be lost in the upgrade as there is not a one-to-one mapping with the old and new subscription systems.
Recent episodes of successfully transferred subscriptions will be re-downloaded, as the program will not know they have already been downloaded.
The interface for finding new BBC Radio programmes is very basic. This will be overhauled in future versions.

Radio Downloader Update

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:05:51 +0100

I am currently working on an updated version of Radio Downloader to work with the BBC's Listen Again service, now that it has been incorporated into their iPlayer.
Unfortunately, this is taking longer than anticipated, as it requires considerable internal refactoring.
I am aiming to have a version of this available in the next week or so. Apologies for any inconvenience caused until then.

Radio Downloader 0.4.9

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:34:55 +0100

Today I have released a small update to Radio Downloader. This fixes a bug with deleted items in the downloads list, adds a 'Last Download' column to the subscriptions list, and includes an enhancement to prevent the program database from continuously growing.

Radio Downloader 0.4.8

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:20:21 +0000

Today I have released a minor update to Radio Downloader. This adds a new cleanup feature for downloaded programmes for which the audio file has vanished. Check out the changelog for details of the changes.

Radio Downloader 0.4.7

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 08:46:28 +0000

Today I have released a new version of Radio Downloader. This version fixes DEP problems on Vista, as well as several usability and reliability enhancements. Check out the changelog for full details of the changes in this version.

Radio Downloader 0.4.6

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

I have produced a new bugfix release of Radio Downloader. This fixes problems getting information for certain BBC Listen Again programmes, and also resolves some issues causing long pauses on startup.

Radio Downloader 0.4.5

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

I have released a new version of Radio Downloader. This is just a bugfix release to address an issue that some users experienced after upgrading to version 0.4.4.

Radio Downloader 0.4.4

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

I am pleased to announce an update to Radio Downloader. This version brings the ability to download BBC Podcasts, and the facility to manage which stations are shown on the 'Select Station' tab. You can get the new version here.

Radio Downloader 0.4.3

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0100

I have released an updated version of Radio Downloader. This version doesn't have any new features, but it improves the internal error handling routines.

New Tool

Thu, 24 May 2007 00:00:00 +0100

I am pleased to announce a new tool - a utility for downloading radio station content. Get Radio Downloader here.