BBC Sounds quirk

[Anastasius]

If I, say, select a past Prom and then start listening to it, all is well. I can pause it, start to play again etc without any problem. But if I, say, pause it overnight then when I come back to it the next day and hit 'Play' I find that although the screen display is the same, the underlying music is totally different. Anyone else noticed this ?

It does have its benefits. For example, this morning, Prom 9 had 'metamorphosed into Through the Night which I'd never listened to. What a revelation ! Brilliant. How radio 3 used to be (and should be now). No tweets, emails, texts. No gushing 'This is so wonderful'.....

[muzzer]

I think the Sounds app is far from well-designed. It should be completely obvious how to find anything, and it isn’t.

[cloughie]

I think the Sounds app is far from well-designed. It should be completely obvious how to find anything, and it isn’t.

am still using radio i player, but I suppose like FM radio will be pulled dreckly!

[jayne lee wilson]

I think the Sounds app is far from well-designed. It should be completely obvious how to find anything, and it isn’t.

Can't you just bookmark "Radio 3 Live" and Radio 3 Schedule" (& same for other stations) and find what you want from there.... ?

Works very well on Macbooks at least...

[Anastasius]

I think the Sounds app is far from well-designed. It should be completely obvious how to find anything, and it isn’t.

I have to agree with you there. I do find it counter-intuitive to use.

[Anastasius]

Can't you just bookmark "Radio 3 Live" and Radio 3 Schedule" (& same for other stations) and find what you want from there.... ?

Works very well on Macbooks at least...

Does bookmarking the Radio 3 Schedule work for 'Today' ...I've not tried but I suspect noy

[Dave2002]

Can't you just bookmark "Radio 3 Live" and Radio 3 Schedule" (& same for other stations) and find what you want from there.... ?

Works very well on Macbooks at least...

Is the rather more sensible interface which used to appear from programme sites no longer available? The one which had little dots above a line representing the programme timings, and which had the names of each item if one hovered above the relevant dot? I just tried now and instead of going there - using Firefox on an iMac - it went straight into Sounds which compared with the interface I just mentioned is utterly pathetic.

[jayne lee wilson]

Does bookmarking the Radio 3 Schedule work for 'Today' ...I've not tried but I suspect noy

It's this one (accessed via Safari or Firefox...)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl8t#on-now

Fast & problem-free here...

[johnb]

I always use the method that Jayne described.

Also, if you want to go direct to an earlier date you can change "#on-now" to the date, e.g.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl8t/2019/06/30

or even, for reference purposes:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl8t/2018/06/30

[Anastasius]

I always use the method that Jayne described.

Also, if you want to go direct to an earlier date you can change "#on-now" to the date, e.g.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl8t/2019/06/30

or even, for reference purposes:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl8t/2018/06/30

So now I have to be a programmer !

Dave2002mention of the interface with little dots is spot on. That was very useful.

Sounds has been designed by a committee and has lost sight of that key ingredient - usability. Getting mired in this idea of having podcasts and God knows what else all in the same place is a PITA as it's resulted in this poor interface. Some of us aren't interested in podcasts etc.

[Anastasius]

Update. Bookmarking the schedule does 'move' with each day. They got that bit right, at least! Also the ability to go back to the start of a programme while it's still being broadcast is very useful...rather than having to wait for it to migrate post-broadcast onto iPlayer.

But the loss of the small dots is really unhelpful. It means that trying to find any gems of music in the dross that is Breakfast and Essential Classics is now an impossibility.

[Dave2002]

Update. Bookmarking the schedule does 'move' with each day. They got that bit right, at least! Also the ability to go back to the start of a programme while it's still being broadcast is very useful...rather than having to wait for it to migrate post-broadcast onto iPlayer.

But the loss of the small dots is really unhelpful. It means that trying to find any gems of music in the dross that is Breakfast and Essential Classics is now an impossibility.

I don‘t know about the bookmarking - the issues involved - whether there’s a problem which might affect me, or not.

I do know about the small dots. Over the weekend a friend emailed me about a piece he’d heard on Jazz Record Requests. I had no idea which piece it was, though fortunately when I asked he mentioned it was one of the earlier items. I did locate and listen to it, but with more faffing than it would have been with the earlier interface. It would have been a complete pain if I’d “had” to listen sequentially through most of the programme to find just that one piece. However, I did quite like the Lionel Hampton piece which came on a bit further into the programme.

[Sir Velo]

Like others I installed the Sounds app when it was released and cursed it as a PITA, particularly when wanting to catch up on pieces from the last 28 days. However, I've found that on one of my android devices that the old iplayer radio app still functions perfectly well. So, this is the one I continue to use and works fine. Likewise on the desktop: just go to the R3 schedule homepage and select programmes from there.

The BBC can keep its Sounds app and stick it up its proverbial you know what!

[jayne lee wilson]

Update. Bookmarking the schedule does 'move' with each day. They got that bit right, at least! Also the ability to go back to the start of a programme while it's still being broadcast is very useful...rather than having to wait for it to migrate post-broadcast onto iPlayer.

But the loss of the small dots is really unhelpful. It means that trying to find any gems of music in the dross that is Breakfast and Essential Classics is now an impossibility.

Does this help (scroll down)?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000754b

Or hit show more here -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000754d

etc....

[Anastasius]

Like others I installed the Sounds app when it was released and cursed it as a PITA, particularly when wanting to catch up on pieces from the last 28 days. However, I've found that on one of my android devices that the old iplayer radio app still functions perfectly well. So, this is the one I continue to use and works fine. Likewise on the desktop: just go to the R3 schedule homepage and select programmes from there.

The BBC can keep its Sounds app and stick it up its proverbial you know what!

But then you won't be able to have your listening "organised" for you..

BBC Sounds has something for everyone: brand new music mixes – curated by some of the biggest names in the industry [Who cares ?] – new and exclusive podcasts, live and on-demand radio, plus endless hours from the archive.

The app makes recommendations based on your listening habits, so the more you listen the more you’ll discover. You’ll find collections of funny things, suspenseful stories, and curiosities, alongside music mixes to soundtrack your day.

[My bold]