My wife has just acquired an iPad.
I’d like to listen to BBC radio (as I do on my laptop), but I can’t get either the iPlayer app or listen through the BBC website.
Am I being dim or is there something I need to know?
(Yes, I’m sure I could Gooooogle this for an answer, but would prefer to hear first hand, from a real person in Taiwan with iPad/BBC knowledge, if poss. 
)
Thanks in advance.
Colin
If you just want the BBC news (the World Service, I think), you can listen to that through the BBC News app.
I’m able to listen to audio streams through the BBC website on the iPad: I’m using Safari for this, and I don’t believe I’ve done anything special. I started at this website: http://www.bbcstreams.com
Annoyingly, the BBC iPlayer app doesn’t work on the iPad in Taiwan, because we’re not in the UK (you can probably get around this with a VPN). And yeah, this is silly: if you’re on a computer, the iPlayer radio is fine in Taiwan, but the iPlayer video is not. Yet we lose both when we move from the computer to the iPad.
There are lots of BBC podcasts to listen to, if you want to choose your programs and listen to them when you want to.
You don’t need an app to use iplayer, though there is one, just a VPN. The site is set up for iplayer on ipad already. Just browse to it as usual. Of course, you don’t need a VPN for radio, but you will for TV.
I can confirm that the iplayer site is accessible via the ipad in Taiwan, for sure.
[quote=“ilikecoffee”]You don’t need an app to use iplayer, though there is one, just a VPN. The site is set up for iplayer on ipad already. Just browse to it as usual. Of course, you don’t need a VPN for radio, but you will for TV.
I can confirm that the iplayer site is accessible via the ipad in Taiwan, for sure.[/quote]
Thanks for your input. I can indeed load the iplayer page, but I cannot get radio to play (I know TV is not available on any device except via a proxy, so I am not concerned about that). When I click on a show I want to listen to, I get the message that it is not available of my device.
Perhaps I am being thick, so kindly tell me how you do it. (I have read elsewhere that it is something to do with Flashplayer(?) not being compatible with Apple products. Is this the issue?)
Any advice appreciated.
Ta.
Col
My bad! I never checked. I usually listen to the Beeb Radio through one of the many ‘radio’ apps on Ipad; but I didn’t notice that the radio stations on the ipad website are geolocked. So you will need a VPN. I can suggest several if you like. I generally use either TunnelBear or Strong VPN.
TunnelBear it is, then. Many thanks for the tip.
Happily re-united with the Beeb. 
I use Android, but I think the situation is the same for the Ipad as well.
BBC radio is not geoblocked. However, it needs Flash so it will not work on a tablet without the BBC Radio Iplayer app. Unfortunately, the app is only available through the UK Google Play/Apple Store. Simply using a Proxy will not give you access to the UK store (at least for Android). Therefore, if you want to use Iplayer on your tablet, you need to locate the App from elsewhere. I managed to find the Iplayer Radio APK and sideload it onto my Andriod Tablet.
The same applies for watching TV through BBC Iplayer, but in addition you will also need to use a proxy each time you want to watch. Tunnel Bear does the trick.
[quote=“ColT”][quote=“ilikecoffee”]You don’t need an app to use iplayer, though there is one, just a VPN. The site is set up for iplayer on ipad already. Just browse to it as usual. Of course, you don’t need a VPN for radio, but you will for TV.
I can confirm that the iplayer site is accessible via the ipad in Taiwan, for sure.[/quote]
Thanks for your input. I can indeed load the iplayer page, but I cannot get radio to play (I know TV is not available on any device except via a proxy, so I am not concerned about that). When I click on a show I want to listen to, I get the message that it is not available of my device.
Perhaps I am being thick, so kindly tell me how you do it. (I have read elsewhere that it is something to do with Flashplayer(?) not being compatible with Apple products. Is this the issue?)
Any advice appreciated.
Ta.
Col[/quote]
[quote=“Mawvellous”]I use Android, but I think the situation is the same for the Ipad as well.
BBC radio is not geoblocked. However, it needs Flash so it will not work on a tablet without the BBC Radio Iplayer app. Unfortunately, the app is only available through the UK Google Play/Apple Store. Simply using a Proxy will not give you access to the UK store (at least for Android). Therefore, if you want to use Iplayer on your tablet, you need to locate the App from elsewhere. I managed to find the Iplayer Radio APK and sideload it onto my Andriod Tablet.
The same applies for watching TV through BBC Iplayer, but in addition you will also need to use a proxy each time you want to watch. Tunnel Bear does the trick.
[quote=“ColT”][quote=“ilikecoffee”]You don’t need an app to use iplayer, though there is one, just a VPN. The site is set up for iplayer on ipad already. Just browse to it as usual. Of course, you don’t need a VPN for radio, but you will for TV.
I can confirm that the iplayer site is accessible via the ipad in Taiwan, for sure.[/quote]
Thanks for your input. I can indeed load the iplayer page, but I cannot get radio to play (I know TV is not available on any device except via a proxy, so I am not concerned about that). When I click on a show I want to listen to, I get the message that it is not available of my device.
Perhaps I am being thick, so kindly tell me how you do it. (I have read elsewhere that it is something to do with Flashplayer(?) not being compatible with Apple products. Is this the issue?)
Any advice appreciated.
Ta.
Col[/quote][/quote]
Thanks. As stated above, I’m now using Tunnelbear.
Oddly enough, I can now stream BBC radio on the ipad without TB turned on.
Let me reiterate: you do not need an app to watch BBC Iplayer on the IPAD, you do NOT need flash to access the IPAD version of BBC Iplayer, you DO need a solution to the geoblocking.
Strictly speaking you do NOT need to use a VPN to listen to BBC Radio, there are many platforms where it is available without problems. But to do so on an IPAD that is purchased and activated in Taiwan and you are using BBC Iplayer platform (NOT THE IPLAYER APP), you can only access that through a VPN. This is not a Flash problem.
Confused. I thought so.
[quote=“ilikecoffee”]Let me reiterate: you do not need an app to watch BBC Iplayer on the IPAD, you do NOT need flash to access the IPAD version of BBC Iplayer, you DO need a solution to the geoblocking.
Strictly speaking you do NOT need to use a VPN to listen to BBC Radio, there are many platforms where it is available without problems. But to do so on an IPAD that is purchased and activated in Taiwan and you are using BBC Iplayer platform (NOT THE IPLAYER APP), you can only access that through a VPN. This is not a Flash problem.
Confused. I thought so.[/quote]
Confused? Erm, yes.
I loaded Tunnelbear and got access to BBC radio on the iPad. I couldn’t get it before.
I can now get BBC radio without using Tunnelbear.
I cannot get BBC TV on the iPad, with or without Tunnelbear, as it says I need the Flash player. It is an iPad bought in Taiwan.
I can get BBC TV on my laptop using Tunnelbear.
I wanted radio on the iPad, so I’m happy. TV on the laptop is a bonus for the odd things that I’d like to see.