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Introduction
Steam provides instant access to all the BBC Radio and TV Schedules. It does this through a local database that it downloads from the web and a series of windows through which it presents the information to you. These windows are described in the next few sections but first let's tell you how to get started!
Getting Started
Steam allows you to decide which of the BBC's schedules you want to see. When you first start the application it will ask you which stations' schedules you want it to display by clicking the corresponding buttons in the preferences window. There are several other preferences you can set here and we will discuss these later when we describe the preferences window. For now just make sure you are connected to the Internet, click the stations you are interested in and click OK.
Over the next minute or so, Steam should seek out the available schedules for the stations you picked and display them in the Now Playing window. As this is Steam's main window we will cover it next.
The Now Playing window
As you can see, this window contains two main areas. At the top is a table where Steam shows you the programme currently on air and the programme up next for each of the stations you selected in the preferences. Notice that you can grow or shrink the window as desired but the table always adjusts its size to suit. Unlike a web-based view of the schedules, you can make this window very small and yet still keep an eye on all the programmes on the air and the ones up next.
In the bottom half of the window is an area in which you can see a description of one of the programmes listed in the table. Just click a programme in the table and its details will appear there. You can use the arrow keys to navigate through the table at the top and see the programme descriptions.
At the top and bottom of the Now Playing window you'll see five buttons (some of which may be grayed out). These buttons (or corresponding menu commands) allow you to control Steam's other functions.
Listening to the Stations
If you have RealPlayer installed, you can tell Steam to start playing the station of your choice. Just select one of the "on air" programmes in the Now Playing or Schedule windows and select Play from the File menu, a contextual menu, or use the shortcut Cmd-Alt-P. In the Now Playing window the most convenient way to start playing a station is to select the station or programme and click the Play button. Alternatively just double-click the station name in the leftmost column of the Now Playing window. The currently playing station is indicated by a small icon to the left of the station name.
The default (and strongly recommended) way of using Steam is to play using an embedded player, which avoids having to use the Real Player application. Just like the small Now Playing window, Steam's embedded player takes up the minimum amount of screen space. If you prefer to use the separate application, you can change this behavior as described in the Miscellaneous preferences.
Note that as well as the usual controls for stop, pause, play, volume and so forth, this window contains a link that will open the BBC player in your browser, allowing you to select from a range of other programmes as well as the current live feed.
Programme Web Page
As well as the schedule pages, the BBC often publishes a detailed web page about their programmes. For example you can sometimes look at the biographies and pictures of cast members in a play or more details about a piece of music you're listening to. Fans of the shipping forecast can even see a map of the sea areas! To see these programme details, select the programme you're interested in and click the Programme web wage button in the Now Playing window. You can get the same result by using Web page for programme (Cmd-Alt-W) on the file menu or the contextual menu. The second two techniques also work in a Schedule window so you can sometimes look up the details of a past or future programme.(But bear in mind that the BBC often uses a single web site for all episodes of a serial, for example, so you'll see the "current" page even if you get there from last week's episode.) The web page will open in your default browser. If the web page just contains the same information as Steam already showed you, that's because the BBC did not provide additional details for that programme.
Steam will also look up a selected programme on the PublicRadioFan.com web site. This site often contains links to details of the programme on the BBC's web site and alternative times and stations for listening to the programme. Flixton Software is not affiliated in any way with this site but we provide this mechanism for the convenience of our users. If you find it useful, please consider supporting the site.To look up a programme on Public Radio Fan, select the programme in the Now Playing or Schedule window and choose Public Radio Fan on either the file menu or the contextual menu.
Listen Again
As you may know, the BBC maintains an excellent archive of "listen again" material for many of the stations. You can reach this archive by selecting the station of your choice (or one of the programmes) in the Now Playing window and clicking the ... listen again button.You can get the same result by using Listen again (Cmd-L) on the file menu or the contextual menu.
If the button is grayed it means that there is no archive available for the selected station.
The Schedule window
If you select one of the "On Air" or "Up Next" programmes in the Now Playing window and click the Today's ... schedule button you will open a Schedule window (alternatively, you can select a program and click Open Schedule (Cmd-O) on the file menu or just double-click the programme) . Each schedule window (you can open several at once) presents a single day's schedule on the specified station. Notice that all the times are shown in your local time zone using your local date and time format. Each schedule runs from midnight to midnight in your time zone.
When you open the schedule it is automatically scrolled to the programme you selected, which is also highlighted. You can use the pop-up menu on the left to move to a different station or the forward and back buttons to navigate through the schedules for the selected station day by day. If you click the button on the right with today's date on it you'll get a calendar sheet from which you can select any date in the current month or another month. Just click on the date you want and the sheet will close. (Dates for which there is no schedule available are grayed out.) When you first use Steam it should have just over one week's schedules available. Over a period of days Steam will collect new schedules as they are published and retain the old ones. By default you will normally be able to page back and forth through about five weeks' schedules (though you can adjust this in the preferences).
You can copy and paste any text from the Schedule window into another program. Please remember that the programme descriptions probably have BBC copyright associated with them.
The Find window
One of the advantages of having the schedules in a local database is that you can very quickly search something mentioned in the schedules for any of the stations you've selected. To start a search, select Find… from the edit menu or type Cmd-F.
The Find window has three parts
- A field into which you type the desired search string
- A list of matching programmes
- A details pane where you can see more information about one of the programmes in the results list.
Note that double-clicking one on the results items is another way to open a schedule window, highlighting that programme within its schedule. You can navigate around the results list using the arrow keys and can set a reminder or pull up the web page for a programme just as you can in the Now Playing window.
Reminders
Steam allows you to select any programme in the Now Playing, Schedule or Find windows so you can set a reminder. In the Now Playing window the most convenient way to do this is by clicking the Programme reminder button. Alternatively you can click on the programme and then select Reminder from the File menu or Control click on the programme to bring up the contextual menu. (The menu shortcut Cmd-R can also be used). This brings up a Reminder window which allows you to choose one of five types of reminder.
One Time Reminder: This indicates that you just want to be reminded of this one particular programme.
Daily Reminder: Choose a daily reminder if you want to listen to a particular program at the same time every day. (Note that Steam actually remembers the broadcast time in the UK so the time at which you are reminded to listen might change depending upon the start or end of daylight saving time at your location or in the UK.) In most instances the BBC schedules are quite different at weekends so you might find the weekday reminder (described next) more useful.
Weekday Reminder: Choose a weekday reminder if you want to listen to a particular program at the same time every weekday, for example, to listen to the daily broadcast of The Archers or of the News. Note that "weekday" refers to the day in the UK when the programme is broadcast so if you're listening elsewhere in the world a Monday morning programme might be heard on Sunday night or a Friday programme heard on Saturday. If you've selected a broadcast of a program that takes place on Saturday or Sunday in the UK, this option will be disabled.
Weekly Reminder: Choose a weekly reminder if you want to listen to a particular program at the same time and on the same day every week.
Reminder by Description: If you have a particular interest such as music by Bach or shows staring Bill Oddie, you can enter the information here and Steam will tell you about any programme whose title or description includes what you asked for.
Once you have set a reminder on a programme, its name will have a small diamond in front of it in the Now Playing and Schedule windows. Whenever Steam reads new schedules, it checks the programmes against the criteria for your existing reminders and sets reminders on the new programmes if appropriate. You can cancel a reminder using the same dialog you used to set it.
Any active reminders will alert you five minutes before the programme and again when it actually starts. If you want to change the five minute reminder you can do this in the preferences window. By the way, Steam has to be running for the reminder to happen.
Reminders and iCal
By default Steam makes a new calendar in iCal that consists of all the programmes on which you have set a reminder. This calendar is called "Steam" and is automatically created by Steam and updated whenever you add or delete a reminder. You can have iCal remind you of these programmes even if Steam isn't running. If you use iSync to copy your calendars to a PDA or other mobile device, or to another Mac, then you can have programme reminders wherever you are!
If you don't want to use this feature you can turn it off in the preferences, as described below. Also note that making changes to your Steam calendar in iCal will not change the reminders set in Steam. In fact, Steam will over-write these changes whenever a reminder is added or deleted.
The Preferences window
The Preferences window allows to you choose how you want to use Steam. The window has four different tabs that you can select across the top. Details of the individual preferences within each tab are given below.
Stations Tab
The buttons on this tab have already been mentioned in the Getting Started section. The selected stations are the ones which appear in the other windows and their schedules will be maintained within Steam's database. You can add or delete stations at any time.
Appearance Tab
Using the two large buttons on this screen you can select either the standard aqua appearance or a brushed metal appearance for the Now Playing and Schedule windows in Steam .Changes you make here only apply to windows you open in the future so the Now Playing window's appearance only changes the next time you launch Steam.
The font size slider is "live" so you can preview the changes in the Now Playing window as you move it.
The check-boxes labeled "Show labels on buttons" and "Show icons on buttons" control the appearance of the five buttons that encircle the Now Playing window. By un-selecting both of these you can return to the "minimalist" interface of earlier versions of Steam. You can, of course, continue to select all the functions from the menus or using the appropriate command keys.
Although Steam normally shows times in your own time zone you might be interested in the time in the UK. A click box in this window allows yo to determine whether the title bar of the Now Playing window should include the UK time.
Like all the other items in the Preferences window, these changes only take permanent effect if you click OK.
Reminders
Remind me ... minutes before programme starts
You can choose particular programmes you don't want to miss and Steam will warn you when they are about to start. This preference determines how many minutes notice you will receive.
Beep when displaying reminder
If this option is selected you will hear a beep along with the alert warning you about upcoming programmes.
Show reminders in iCal
This option controls whether Steam will generate its own calendar within iCal
Alarm reminders in iCal
If the option is set then the events in the Steam calendar of iCal will have alarms on them. These alarms will also be transferred to other devices, such as a PDA, if you use iSync.
Repeating Reminders
This is a clickable list of all the repeating reminders currently in effect. Reminders are normally added and deleted using the Reminders window but you can also delete one by selecting the corresponding entry in this list and clicking the Delete Selected Reminder button.
Miscellaneous Tab
Download new schedules automatically
Steam is designed to make schedules available quickly even to users who do not have an always-on Internet connection. If you un-click this button then you can download schedules manually when desired using the Status window. In the default "on" state, Steam will check periodically for updates on its own. It does this slowly in the background so as not to interfere with your other work.
Enable Web operations even if offline
If you have an always-on connection to the internet, you can ignore this check-box. Steam will normally disable the three buttons at the top of the Now Playing window when you do not have a connection. This is to remind you that these functions are not available until you connect to the internet, in order to use them you will have to first manually establish a connection to the internet. On the other hand you might have your system set to connect to the internet automatically when requested and might want to use these three buttons (or the associated menu commands) to connect when desired. If you check this preference, the operations are enabled even when you're not connected.
Schedules deleted after ... days
Steam downloads schedules as they become available and retains them in its local database. This preference determines when they should be deleted. The default is 30 days which means programme details are deleted 30 days after the day on which they were broadcast.
Use UK dates and times rather than system time zone
If you click this, you'll disable one of Steam's main features, which is to display everything in your local time zone. Some people prefer to think in UK time and to have the times shown by Steam match programme announcements made by the BBC. Times will be shown in GMT or BST according to the season. Most users will want to keep this option turned off. [If your local time is the same as the BBC's then the question is moot and this option will be grayed out.]
Play Streams...
This menu allows you to select whether to use Steam's embedded player (strongly recommended) or to play using the RealPlayer application. Steam works with both release 9 (called "RealOne Player") and release 10 (called "RealPlayer"). If you have both versions installed you can choose whether to use the latest one or use the older RealOne Player.
Use URL ... as Listen Again for ...
When you pull up he listen again page for a station you usually get a pre-defined page whose URL is built-in to Steam. Using this field you can choose to display other URLs for one or more stations. Select the station you want to change from the pop-up menu and type the desired URL into the text field. To return to the default URL for that station just choose that station and delete the text in the field.
The Status window
This shows which of the normally on-line schedules (yesterday, today, plus the next few days) have actually been downloaded for each of the stations you enabled in Preferences. A light gray cell indicates a day's schedule that has been loaded. In the example below, Friday's schedules have not been downloaded yet and Radio 3 and 4 are missing Wednesday and Thursday. This window also shows you when Steam last downloaded any schedules
If you do not have an always-on connection to the Internet then you should un-select the Download new schedules automatically option in the Preferences window and use the Load Missing Schedules button on the Status window when you are actually on-line. Clicking this button will also tell Steam to try to download any schedules that it has so far been unable to download automatically.
If one of the schedules seems to be wrong or to be missing some programmes, you can select that day and station and click Reload Selected Schedule. This will tell Steam to try to reload the specified schedule now. In the example above, Steam is being asked to reload today's schedule for Five Live. We have noticed that the BBC occasionally posts a partial schedule and Steam may have loaded one of these. Reloading a schedule will correct this if the BBC has updated a schedule since Steam downloaded it. Note that just like your browser, Steam will try for about 75 seconds to download the specified schedule. If you (or the BBC!) are off-line you may have to wait for this interval before you can do anything else.
Note that whenever Steam is downloading schedules for a particular station it will briefly display a rotating progress indicator next to the station's name in the Now Playing window. If you have a high-speed connection, you might miss this if you blink!
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the point? Isn't all this information on the BBC web site? Of course! However, we think that Steam has many advantages.
- Schedules only stay on the BBC web site for 24 hours after broadcast then they are gone forever, Steam will retain them for 30 days or whatever interval you choose.
- If you use your browser to track what's on you have to use a significant portion of your screen to do so, You can tuck Steam into a small corner.
- You have to be on-line to read the web site but not to use Steam.
- Steam always shows you times in your own time zone and stitches together in one schedule window what may actually be broadcast on different days in the UK.
- Daylight saving time is automatically taken care of (this is a big deal during the spring for North American users).
- You can simultaneously search all the stations' schedules over several weeks in one second or less (the program you just missed on Radio 4 may be repeated later on the World Service.)
- You can be reminded of the start of particular programmes or any programme whose description matches something or someone you are interested in.
- If you use Steam's play mechanism then you can greatly reduce the clutter of .ram files on your computer.
How do I allow for Daylight savings Changes? You don't need to (so long as your date and time preferences, including time zone, are set properly in the OS X System Preferences). Steam knows when daylight saving time starts and ends in the UK and at your location (if at all) and makes the appropriate adjustments.
Why can't I select a Friday evening programme for a weekday reminder? Because you live in the Americas! What you think of as Friday evening is actually Saturday morning in the UK so the weekday reminder option is grayed out for this programme. Listeners on the other side of the international date line will see a similar effect on Mondays.
Why don't the times in the Now Playing window show AM or PM? Steam will show either 12 or 24 hour times in the Now Playing window but it never shows a suffix like AM/PM because we wanted to keep that window as small as possible. The full times are displayed in the Schedule windows. If you're using a 12 hour clock, you'll have to supply the AM or PM yourself -- we're talking about the time right now, after all!
I'm having a problem with RealPlayer, can you help? Unfortunately not, you will have to work with RealNetworks to get that sorted out. This is actually our most frequently asked question. Start by trying to play the stream directly from the BBC web site to determine whether the problem is unrelated to Steam. If necessary you might have to re-install the player; the last time we checked it was still possible to do so without having to sign up for a "free trial". Steam works with both release 9 (called "RealOne Player") and release 10 (called "RealPlayer"). If you have both version installed you can choose which one Steam should use from the miscellaneous preferences. If you are still using the beta of version 10, we recommend that you download the "gold" version which seems to be more stable. Using the embedded player seems to provide the most stability and the fastest response.
I hate RealNetworks, why don't you support QuickTime? Unfortunately it's not our choice. Although we'd love to use QuickTime for this, the BBC decided a couple of years ago that they would only use the Real (and in some places WMP) formats.
Why doesn't streaming of the TV stations work? The BBC does not stream most of the TV channels, although it's obviously technically possible. We suspect that this may be at least partly for copyright reasons (you'll also notice that radio broadcasts are occasionally blacked out on the web as well). The only exceptions to this are BBC Parliament, and the News 24 hour channel which streams a short reel of current news stories. Steam will play (and display) these streams for you.You can also watch archived TV news and perhaps some other TV programmes by clicking Steam's listen again button with one of the TV stations selected.
When I start Steam why does it takes a few minutes to find what's on? You are not using it often enough! Steam is designed to continuously update itself in the background and uses a miniscule amount of your Mac's resources to do this. We recommend you keep it running in the dock whenever your Mac is running. That way it is ready for instant action and your reminders will work. If you don't have a permanent connection to the internet, turn off Download schedules automatically in Preferences and then click the Load Missing Schedules button in the Status window when you are connected, ideally at least a couple of times a week. If the schedules don't update when you click the button, you are having a problem connecting to the BBC site (perhaps their server is down) so try again later.
Why is the programme on the air not the same one that Steam says should be on? The BBC seems to very occasionally make last-minute changes to their schedules after Steam has read them. You could try selecting the appropriate day's schedule in the Status window and clicking Reload Selected Schedule. There is nothing else we can do about this. If it's any comfort to you, the Radio Times is probably also wrong!
Why don't I see the cool alternating lines on the background shown in the documentation? You'll have to upgrade to Panther to see those!
Why isn't Steam showing times in the correct time (12 hour / 24 hour) or date style? We've seen several cases, particularly after upgrading Mac OS releases, where a user's date and time display didn't match what was displayed in the System Preferences. If you're having a problem, quit Steam, change the format in your "International" preferences to something else then change it back again and re-launch Steam. In OS X 10.3 (Panther) we have noticed that in some international formats, even the system software displays things differently after changing from 12 to 24 hour clock and back again.
Steam is telling me its data file is corrupted, what's going on? Steam saves all the schedules it has read from the BBC web site, and any reminders you have scheduled, in a file stored within your preferences folder. For example, if your account name is Joe you'll find this file at /users/joe/Library/Preferences/FlixtonSoftware.Steam.data3. Steam needs to read this file every time it starts up and write it every time it reads or deletes a day's schedules. Unfortunately, this file might get corrupted for some reason and, if so, Steam will note the error next time it tries to start up. At this time it will give you the choice of quitting or of creating a new empty file. If you tell it to do the latter then any information previously in the file will be lost. If you want to try again you should tell Steam to quit. At this point you might want to consider rebooting your system, crossing your fingers or whatever strategy you feel might help; unfortunately the file is probably gone. If you consider it precious, you should recover the most recent copy from your backups (you do regularly backup your preferences folder, don't you?)
Is there a Windows version? We have no interest in supporting the Windows platform, sorry.
Is this program free? No it's shareware. That means you can download and try it for 30 days but to use it beyond this period you'll have to obtain a registration code. If you do not think this program is worth the modest registration fee, you are free to use the older release 2.2, which is still on our web site. Unfortunately recent changes on the BBC's site mean that release 2.2 will no longer play most of the stations. You can still use it for viewing and searching the programmes. If your free trial period expires before you have made up your mind to buy, write to us to get a temporary registration code.
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