Windows Media Player

If you are using BBC Live Radio or BBC iPlayer Radio then you are also using Windows Media Player, which is used by both programs to play the BBC WMA streams.

If either of them is not playing properly then try starting Windows Media Player.

• If you do not have Windows Media Player you must obtain it from the Microsoft website or through Windows Update. Some versions of Windows do not come with Windows Media Player because of legal rulings against Microsoft, so you will have to sort out getting it yourself.
• If Windows Media Player will not start, try running the Windows Media Player Troubleshooters from Control Panel. There are three, and they should be run as Administrators.

If Windows Media Player starts okay, check to see that it plays online audio. This is a bit tricky: you really need to get the online audio address for the radio programme you want to play, which you can only get from BBC iPlayer Radio or BBC Live Radio.

If you get the error "Windows Media Player cannot play the file because the specified protocol is not supported" then try the following fix (from Tip #43: Fixing Corrupted Windows Media Player in Vista)

1. Close Windows Media Player.
2. Start Windows Explorer.
3. Go to the C: drive, then the Users folder/directory, then the folder or directory with your username, then the AppData folder, then the Local folder, then the Microsoft folder, then the Windows Media folder. You may have to make hidden folders visible to find all these!

4. There will be a folder or two with numbers there, like "11.0". Delete or rename the folders. If you rename rather than delete them you can rename them back if the fix doesn't work.
5. Restart Windows Media Player and try again.