You may remember that we at PC Pro were none too impressed with the BBC iPlayer when it was first released. Our preview of the beta software lamented the way the iPlayer was raggedly ripped in two (a website for selecting shows, a separate desktop app for viewing them), the appalling user interface and the limited selection of shows. “It’s produced a bug-ridden, slow and ultimately disappointing product… and worst of all, the Beeb’s done it with your money,” the preview concluded.

Since the dark days of November 2007, I’m pleased to say the iPlayer has improved almost beyond recognition. The website interface is now much cleaner and finding the particular episode of a series that you want to watch is no longer a case of randomly clicking on identical boxes and hoping for the best. Shows can now be streamed in either standard or “high-quality” versions if you can’t be bothered to wait for the download (although downloads still offers much greater picture quality), and devices such as media players, games consoles and phones are now well supported with dedicated downloads.   

If the truth be told, the BBC has turned what was looking like a multi-million lame duck into one of the most popular internet services this country has ever seen – and deserves credit for doing so.

Which makes it all the more galling that the next evolution of the iPlayer looks set to undo much of the good work.

Early next year, the BBC will replace the current iPlayer with a cross-platform version based on Adobe’s AIR platform. That good news is that this will make it easier for Macs and Linux users to use the iPlayer, and will also include new content such as HD video and podcasts. Although it will almost certainly mean we pick up the tab with more expensive broadband tariffs, as ISPs pass on the costs of the extra bandwidth required for a service that already accounts for around 10% of all UK internet traffic at peak hours.

The BBC also plans to hop needlessly on to the social networking bandwagon, in what iPlayer chief Anthony Rose is already painfully describing as “Broadcast 2.0”. This means the iPlayer will be turned into a pseudo-Facebook, with viewers able to see what their friends are watching, “chat” about shows as they watch them, and rate shows – or even parts of shows – they’ve watched. “Next year, it’s your friends who are going to choose what you watch,” Rose claims. Give me strength.

Worse still, the iPlayer’s going to start nagging you to watch shows. “You’ll see a System Tray pop-up: Top Gear, next episode now out,” Rose proudly proclaims in today’s Guardian, seemingly unaware that even Microsoft has decided that pop-up bubbles from the System Tray are more irritating  than re-runs of Holby City, and dumped them for Windows 7.

Having transformed the iPlayer into an invaluable public service, the BBC looks set to break the golden rule of fixing something that now isn’t broken.