Podcasts available for longer

Editor's note: we've made a big improvement to Radio 4 podcasts - they're available to download for much longer - most for at least 30 days and two-thirds of them in perpetuity. Mark Friend, Controller of Audio & Music Interactive, explains the change and hints at further improvements in a blog post on the new Radio blog - SB

We know that the BBC's podcasts are hugely popular with people who know about them and understand how to get hold of them. A recent example is A history of the World in 100 Objects which has had over 12 million downloads so far, over the course of the series. I like this example, first because it's a big number but also because the content itself is stunning.

I also like this example because we've made every episode of the 100-part series available rather than the normal approach of withdrawing the podcasts 7 days after the original programme was broadcast. This means that if you only discovered the series half-way through its 9-month run, it's easy to download any or all of the previous episodes to listen to whenever it suits you...

Read the rest of this post - and leave a comment - on the Radio blog.