Odd fetching of radio

[J]

Vangelis forthnet wrote:
> On Sat Feb 20 09:03:47 GMT 2016, J wrote:
>> I don't recollect reading about changes to the way podcasts are made
>> available by the BBC
>> (snip)
>> as being 128Kbps mp3 with a sampling rate of 44.1KHz
>> (snip)
>> where the generation of podcasts fits into the bigger picture
>> and a clue would be welcome
>
> Hi J Pardon me for being thick, but I don't quite get the gist of your
> query.
> First thing is I don't fetch podcasts that often, so not really the
> person to ask :-(
> With "--type=podcast", GiP 2.94 fetches MP3 audio files in almost the
> state they have been already prepared by the beeb; if you also add
> "--no-tag" to the command, they should be identical to the files you get
> by downloading (e.g. via browser) from the BBC podcast pages directly.
> GiP 2.95dev has been already patched so as not to "mess" with the
> original ID3 metadata.
>

Apologies for appearing to be asking specifically yourself - and for my 
poor phrasing. My opening remarks were addressed to you but then a 
miscellany of musings fell from my brain to the keyboard.

I'd mentioned them possibly being OT as I hadn't been considering the 
fetching of podcasts via GiP but by direct download and was wondering 
about the SR difference between a directly-downloaded podcast and the 
mp3 file with which one ends up if downloading the broadcast program via 
GiP. The one I had just looked at was R4's Friday Night Comedy:
http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/5/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download/proto/http/vpid/p03k30nd.mp3

>
<snip>
> As for the SR of 44.1kHz, I remember asking our own "Jim web" some
> months ago why it was still used for shoutcast MP3 live radio, his
> "connections" told him it was to afford compatibility with as many
> "legacy" devices as possible. I assume the same reason could be argued
> for MP3 podcast files...
>

Yes, I guess the argument applies here also. I'd remembered Shoutcast 
compatibility being given as a reason for 44.1 still being evident and 
also remember mention of The Archers as being a special case because of 
their sound effects library but I hadn't expected podcasts to be 44.1 
and can't picture where 'podcast generation' takes place in the chain. 
That "open.live" part of the URL may provide some sort of clue 
suggesting linkage with live radio.

Podcasts usually/often have an intro and outro to identify the 
series/brand with a 'topped & tailed' version of the programme and 
sometimes elements cut out - presumably because of rights issues as 
those elements often seem to include music.

As I'd said, not really GiP-related but just something that had struck me.

J