Accessible BBC Listen Again

The British Broadcast Company (BBC) allows people to listen to vast quantities of their radio output up to a week after it is first broadcast on one of their dozens of radio stations. This service, called Listen Again, relies on a web browser interface that might be difficult for some users, especially people with screen readers.

Accessible BBC Listen Again allows you to access the BBC's Listen Again content through a truly accessible interface designed to work with any screen reader. Select programmes and stations with the cursor keys and listen to them at your leisure. You get easy and simple access to hours of programming, including the ever-popular "The Archers" and "In Touch".

The new version lets you access all of the Listen Again content among many other improvements (thanks to everyone for their suggestions!) It does still require that you have already installed something that can play Real Audio, which is the format the BBC uses for their radio on the Internet. The official program you can use, RealPlayer from Real, is very difficult to use and pops up lots of confusing messages. We suggest trying out Real Alternative from Edskes: this is free and is much easier to use. Just download, install and forget about it. The latest version of Accessible BBC works with it.

The copyright of the BBC recordings is unchanged by this program: you are simply accessing them through a more accessible presentation of their own website. The new version should work better on more machines: several users contacted me with problems with 2.0. The programmes are also in alphabetical order now except for the first few "favourite picks" so you can find them quicker.

• WebbIE 3 Installer - includes Accessible BBC Listen Again.