New Hitchhiker's Episodes Available Online

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

New Hitchhiker's Episodes Available Online

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Friday September 24, 2004 @12:52AM from the don't-panic dept.

Michael Sheldon writes "The BBC is now offering the first of the new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio episodes as either Real or WMP audio streams. Meaning listeners abroad can now hear the new series, which started playing on UK radio last Tuesday."

20 of 218 comments (clear)

KCRW has original series by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-24 00:56 · Score: 5, Informative

FYI, Primary and Secondary Phase's are available from KCRW in Real format:

http://kcrw.org/show/hg
FFS! by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-24 00:57 · Score: 5, Informative

Look you don't have to wait for the BBC put *PUT THEM ONLINE* to listen from abroad. You can listen to Radio 4 *LIVE* via streaming (HHGTTG is on Tuesdays at 6pm UK time)... this story relates to the BBC's "Listen Again" feature which allows to to catch it if you miss it.
1. Re:FFS! by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-24 01:07 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Yup, I listened to the first episode on Tuesday here in Wisconsin, live.
  
  But a minor correction: it is actually on Tuesdays at 6:30 PM their time. That is 12:30 PM my time (central), so that is 1:30 PM Eastern, 11:30 AM Mountain, and 10:30 AM Pacific. Every Tuesday for the next five weeks.
  
  The first new episode was really quite impressive, and brought back a flood of memories from when I'd last read the books 15 or so years ago.
There's isn't a 42 joke in here, I swear! by Aquatopia17 · 2004-09-24 00:59 · Score: 5, Interesting

I for one am really excited that HG2G has finally made its way back to radio. And on top of that, I can listen to it hassle-free (not as in beer) and free (as in beer) of charge over the internet. I wish listening to American proprietary radio stations was always this easy.

--
Don't sweat the petty things. Don't pet the sweaty things. --Stephen J. Simmons
1. Re:There's isn't a 42 joke in here, I swear! by LordK2002 · 2004-09-24 01:17 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I wish listening to American proprietary radio stations was always this easy.
  Really? I would prefer it if listening to American proprietary radio stations were made as difficult as possible.
Re:RA and WMA? by SpooForBrains · 2004-09-24 00:59 · Score: 5, Funny

They were working on broadcasting it on the Sub Ether Waveband but they didn't have the necessary rights.

--
"The dew has clearly fallen with a particularly sickening thud this morning"
Re:RA and WMA? by jonwil · 2004-09-24 01:00 · Score: 4, Insightful

I suspect part of it is not wanting it in a format that can be saved to disk and kept for later (otherwise it would hurt sales when the thing is released on CD or whatever)
Re:Where can I get the originals? by SpooForBrains · 2004-09-24 01:03 · Score: 4, Informative

Here. The audio effects make up a large part of the experience, so buying the CD is highly recommended.

--
"The dew has clearly fallen with a particularly sickening thud this morning"
mplayer to the rescue! by CoolVibe · 2004-09-24 01:04 · Score: 5, Informative

$ mplayer -dumpstream mms://wm.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/h2g3_episode 1.asf &

Share and enjoy, and why don't you stick your head in a pig ;)
Re:So.. by Excors · 2004-09-24 01:05 · Score: 5, Informative

I've been using the shareware version of NetTransport, which seems to work quite nicely - give it the .ram or .asx URL, wait half an hour, and it'll save the 26MB of .rm or .asf data.
Re:RA and WMA? by Alranor · 2004-09-24 01:09 · Score: 5, Insightful

So i'm guessing they've never heard of mplayer -dumpstream before then.

Ah well, never mind eh.
Updated Infocom Game by Ford+Prefect · 2004-09-24 01:16 · Score: 4, Informative

As trailed a few weeks ago, there's the updated version of the old Infocom interactive fiction version of the Guide.

I had a play on it yesterday - I've no idea how they built it, but they seem to have some unholy alliance of Flash, Z-code and XML running it all. It's pretty cool, too - it's the same old game, but with added graphics...

--
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
1. Re:Updated Infocom Game by Sean+D.+Solle · 2004-09-24 10:00 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  ... some unholy alliance of Flash, Z-code and XML
  The back end's a C++ multi-threaded ZMachine running as a web server extension (can be compiled either as an Apache module or an ISAPI DLL).
  As well as sending the user's input and the game's output back and forth as XML, it also watches the ZMachine's internal state to send the location, score, number of moves, inventory etc.
  It has extra "knowledge" about the HHG game's internals (which is how it can handle the bedroom being dark, house being knocked down etc). This was hard-coded in the release that the BBC are running (due to time constraints - we had to ship on Sep 21st!), but newer builds have an external config file which can let the game twiddle the XML output accordingly, so in theory it could run any of the Infocom adventures.
  Shim's Flash client grabs the XML, pulls up Rod's artwork, displays the inventory and handles the text i/o history.
  Most of the team is on vacation at the moment (I'm posting in the naive hope that it'll mean less email waiting for me when I get back ;-), but there'll be full spec released in due course.
  It's pretty cool, too
  Thanks ... glad you like it!
  Sean.
net transport by Errtu76 · 2004-09-24 01:19 · Score: 4, Informative

You can save streaming media using Net Transport
1. Re:net transport by slackerboy · 2004-09-24 02:04 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  From their website:
  "Net Transport is the faster, terrible (very many users call from feedback) and most powerful downloading tool that you ever saw"
  
  I'm still trying to figure out if that's a glowing recommendation or not....
  
  --
  Things to do today: See list of things to do yesterday
Re:HHGTTG Text Adventure by Ford+Prefect · 2004-09-24 01:20 · Score: 5, Funny

Dear moderators,

The above post actually comes just after my post on the subject, not before. 'Stephendl' obviously copied mine, only for it to be swept back through an eddy in the space-time continuum. Please moderate accordingly.

(Apologies!)

--
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
Re:RA and WMA? by Malc · 2004-09-24 01:28 · Score: 5, Insightful

Experience with OGG? They haven't touched it for nearly two years!

Personally I'm disappointed they didn't also offer it in FLAC, PCM, DTS, SDDS and Dolby Digital! Give it a rest, stop whining, and be happy that they made it available in the first place. It seems people get moderated up just for whinging about OGG. And no, I'm not new here ;)
Re:Eddies in the space-time continuum... by AndroidCat · 2004-09-24 01:41 · Score: 5, Funny

Hi there! I'm Eddy, your shipboard computer!

--
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Re:RA and WMA? by Ford+Prefect · 2004-09-24 01:53 · Score: 4, Funny

Sure, just check your copy of the Guide.

Okay then...

BEEPcrkcrkcrk-BEEPcrkcrkcrk-KRCKaKRCK-BORP!

What to do if you find yourself with a computer that's unable to play Realaudio, and you're at your wits' end with no hope of HHGTTG:

Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far.

Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far, which, given your current circumstances is more likely:

Consider how lucky you are that it won't be troubling you much longer.

Grr. Pile of rubbish.

--
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
Re:RA and WMA? by dasmegabyte · 2004-09-24 02:46 · Score: 4, Funny

Yeah, moderation is very simple. Somebody agrees with you, +1, Insightful even if it's the same, tired, flawed opinion that's been posted for years. Somebody disagrees with you, -1 Troll even if it's new, perceptive and well argued.

For example, you got a +5 for pointing out the same, tired argument that some people whine about OGG and get moderated for it. I will get modded -1 Troll, because of my vitriolic .sig.

You know what? Fuck Slashdot. I'm going to start reading Fark, which is just as retarded but shows me boobies.

--
Hey freaks: now you're ju