Digi-quest
A friend told me about an Irish radio station that plays exquisite classical music. I have no idea how to find it online or why it is good. Can you help?
Name and address supplied
DQ: It took some time but I found the radio station you described. It is RTE Lyric fm (www.rte.ie/lyricfm), which is a free offering from Ireland's non-profit public service broadcaster, Radio Telefis Eireann. The site features classical, opera, jazz and contemporary programmes. Other free music services from the Irish broadcast group includes the more mainstream RTE Radio 1 and RTE 2fm and the Gaelic station RTE Raidio na Gaeltachta.
I'm not an audio expert but I find the sound quality of RTE Lyric fm broadcasts to be better than most. The site requires either Microsoft's Windows Media player or Real Player, both of which are free applications. It allows users to download programmes they might have missed, to be played offline. It is easy to see why online radio broadcasts are popular. Not only do they help expats in Hong Kong connect to home, they offer a wide variety of programming.
Blu-ray defeated HD-DVD last year in the war of the high-definition video formats. So why has Apple not adopted Blu-ray drives on its computers like Sony has?
Kelvin, Tin Hau
DQ: It may have taken a while for HD-DVD proponents to throw in the towel but Blu-Ray has become the high-definition home video standard. Sony is ahead in using Blu-ray drives in personal computers because it spearheaded the development and promotion of the standard, competing against the Toshiba-led HD-DVD camp. In October, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs described the Blu-ray licensing as 'complex'. He said Apple would stay put 'until Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace before we burden our customers with the cost of the licensing and the cost of the drives'.
It appears Apple will not be sitting on the fence for much longer. The next version of the Apple OS X operating system will have drivers for Blu-ray devices. If you are impatient, go ahead and buy a computer that already supports the Blu-ray but I'd suggest waiting a bit longer to see what happens; Apple always does something a little out of the ordinary.