Help / Player

I can't play anything on the Player - what is wrong?

If you are trying to use the BBC Player but are unable to listen live or listen again to any programmes from any radio networks, please check through the following steps.

Do you have the necessary software installed on your computer?

In order to listen to the BBC Player, you need to have some "plug-ins" installed on your computer. You'll find more information, links to download, and step-by-step guides here.

Are the plug-ins enabled in your browser?

Once you have installed RealPlayer, you may need to enable the plug-in within your browser. For instance, if you are using Microsfot Internet Explorer 6 or 7, make sure the RealPlayer 'Add-on' is enabled. To do this, select 'Tools', 'Manage Add-ons' and check that the "RealPlayer ActiveX "control is set to Enabled. More advice about managing Add-ons in Internet Explorer can be found here.

Does your computer have a firewall?

If you know there is a firewall in place that has not yet been configured to allow RealPlayer traffic, you may see error message such as "cannot connect to server", "network problems" or "link may be out of date".

RealPlayer can receive streamed media without compromising the security of the firewall. To listen to the BBC Player, you will need to configure your firewall to allow RealPlayer to access the internet.

On some networks, you may also need to configure RealPlayer to use the HTTP Only option to connect to the internet. This option allows a copy of RealPlayer operating behind a strict firewall to access our audio content.

Read more advice about firewalls and RealPlayer

Still having problems?

If none of the steps outlined above helped to solve your problem, we recommend that you try re-installing the plug-ins required by the BBC Player.

To be sure that RealPlayer is correctly set up, we recommend uninstalling Real from your machine, rebooting, and then re-installing using the free BBC version available here.

If this does not answer your question sufficiently you may find more help on the pages linked to from the right hand side.

If you still cannot find an answer to your question please click here to contact us

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To which radio station does your query relate?

Which operating system are you using?

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Which version of RealPlayer are you using?

Enter the full version number. (optional)
You can get this by opening Real Player and going to help > about.

Which version of Windows Media Player are you using?

Enter the full version number. (optional)
You can get this by opening Windows Player and going to help > about.

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Disclaimer The BBC will only use the information you supply to respond to your queries/comments, to develop and enhance our services and for statistical analysis of audiences and users. We will not use your details for any other purpose. Full details in our privacy policy.

We appreciate your feedback and endeavour to fix any errors immediately. Unfortunately, due to the huge amount of correspondence we receive, we do not generally reply to fault reports so please accept our thanks for notifying us.


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