One of the downloadable programmes at the moment is The Hitchhikers Guide to the Future, a series of 4 programmes on the impact of technology on music, publishing and broadcasting by the late Douglas Adams.

I interviewed Douglas once by accident when I was about 13. He'd just published the first Hitchhikers Guide book and was doing a booksigning at a record store in Newcastle. I was at the front of the queue and he borrowed my pen for the booksigning, so I stayed there and asked him lots of questions while I waited to get my pen back. He was a nice man.

Working from home is dangerous. There are far too many opportunities to get distracted. Todays distraction was courtesy of the Radio 4 section of the BBC's website, which now has a listen again facility allowing online listeners to download previously broadcast (recent) programmes. I know it's not new, RTE have been doing it for years, but I hadn't realised that the Beeb had started doing it as well.

It's an exciting development. I'm usually out when most of the stuff I listen to is on, so the ability to select when I listen to a programme is, for me, a huge advance. It is also a step away from the traditional idea of broadcast media.