The BBC's iMP programme download trial

I've been on the BBC's iMP trial since October. For a first attempt at widespread content distribution, it's very good: the GUI (a skin around IE) looks great, the video quality is acceptable, and the P2P downloading is usually fast. There are occasional JScript errors when flipping between sections of the GUI, but that's a small programming fix.

However, what needs a lot of work is the management of programme scheduling and booking:

• Occasionally, a programme that you ought to be able to download immediately, is instead only available for booking. If you make the booking, it shows up in your booking list but never downloads.
• Occasionally, a programme that you booked as a series doesn't get downloaded, so you download an episode manually, watch it and delete it. Some days later, the series booking kicks in and the episode you've already watched is downloaded.
• Often, a programme that you watch all the way through, except for the credits, shows up as New. This is wrong. And a programme that you start watching but don't finish, shows up as Viewed. This is wrong.
• Series bookings aren't removed when the actual series ends on TV.
  

[Update 14/2/06: The first point above, about bookings that don't download, was due to content not being available at the BBC.]

The (Programme) Guide is seriously lacking too:

• You can't see how long a programme is! Programme info sometimes says how large the downloaded file will be, but there's no consistency about which programmes have this info.
• You can't sort programmes at all. I really hate finding an interesting programme that turns out to be available for booking only, not immediate downloading. Just being able to sort by broadcast date would largely fix the problem.
• I'm not sure the User Rating concept has any worth at all.
  

I also wonder to what extent the timing of the trial affects usage of the iMP application. In the first few months (October-December 2005), I downloaded quite a few programmes but only Spooks and Dragons' Den were worth making a series booking for. Such was the BBC autumn schedule. Now that the 2005/6 winter schedule is in full swing after Christmas, I find there are many more shows worth booking - Life On Mars, Hotel Babylon, Battlefield Britain, The Ferocious Mr Fix It, and soon, The Apprentice series 2! I wonder if the trial controllers will conclude that I got used to the booking feature over time (Wrong), or if they'll realise that they ought to control for programme preferences (Right). One way to control: calculate the percentage of booked, downloaded programmes that were actually watched. (I often forgot to watch Spooks before the DRM expired it, but I watch this season's great shows as soon as they download.)