Do you recommend a refurbished Xbox 360 Core system or a new one?
No name supplied

There's not enough information to say. A refurbished Xbox 360 that has never gone wrong might be a good bet, but I'd be wary about getting one that had already suffered a "red ring" failure. Some people who have had one of those seem to have received refurbished machines that also failed.

Ask the retailer what sort of guarantee and support you can expect from them, not just from Microsoft.

Otherwise, your best bet is the more expensive black Xbox 360 Elite, which seems to be far less likely to fail. It's due in the UK on August 24. Give it plenty of air. And save the original packaging!

I'm trying to buy a DVD of a French film, which appears to be available only in the American NTSC format. Can you suggest a way of getting a PAL DVD version without breaking the bank?
Nick Markovits

Most modern DVD players will play NTSC DVDs, and that includes many of the small, portable players. So will most newish TV sets, though you may have to call up the menu system and select an NTSC option. (An older TV set will probably show the movie in black and white.) Although you could probably find this information in the manuals, it is simpler just to try it: see if you can borrow an NTSC DVD from a friend.

Another complication is the regional security coding used on DVD movies. You won't have a problem if it's Region 0, but an American disc is most likely to be Region 1. Ideally you should have a DVD player that lets you change the region setting as often as you like, but players hacked to Region 0 will handle most DVDs unless they use RCE (Regional Coding Enhancement). DVD Reviewer has a good guide to region hacks for domestic players.

If all else fails, you may be able to play the NTSC DVD on a PC, rip it with Auto Gordian Knot and create a disc you can use. Meanwhile, the movie studios wonder why BitTorrent is so popular ...

Backchat: Nick Markovits says: "I managed to borrow an NTSC DVD from a friend and, to my surprise, it works on my player! So now I can buy my film." On the newly-refurbished Ask Jack blog, Denbo points out that "Auto Gordian Knot (AGK) would be good if you want to produce an avi version of the film, but then you would have to have an avi-capable DVD player, or play it back through the PC."

Where on the net can I find the codes for recording TV programmes, as published in the listings magazines?
Bob Mawji

VideoPlus+ is the UK version of a system that originated in the US. It's owned by Gemstar-TV Guide International. As far as I know, the only TV guide that puts the codes online is the Radio Times, and you have to go to the individual programme listings to find them. There is also an unlicensed open source program that will generate codes for most programmes. However, it fails if the code would be longer than six digits.

Backchat: Billy Dods adds that "TV Guide UK has them for both terrestrial and satellite TV" (http://www.tvguideuk.co.uk/tvlistings/index-time.php).

I wanted to catch up on an episode of Desperate Housewives, but when I went to Channel 4 they told me I had to have a PC running Internet Explorer -- I only have an iMac and an iBook. I wrote to them and they told me it wasn't their fault but the production companies insist on something called DRM.
Desperate of Dorchester (Alastair Nisbet)

You could write to Apple's Steve Jobs and suggest he licences WMV (Windows Media Video) and the companion DRM (digital rights management) from Microsoft. Even small Asian companies seem to be able to manage this. Anyway, I assume Apple is going to license VC-1, which is a version of WMV that has been adopted as a standard option for Blu-ray and HD DVD movies. (It's possible Macs will be unable to play all high-definition movies, but I doubt it.)

Alternatively there is hope on the horizon with Microsoft's new Silverlight browser plug-in, formerly known as WPF/E (Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere). Microsoft is doing a version for Mac OS X that will play WMV movies, and it includes a DRM option (microsoft.com/silverlight).

Of course, it would be even better if producers abandoned DRM, but that may take longer.....

Comment: I'm sure most of you can think of another answer....

What software would you recommend to open an "ogg" file? I found several programs, but hesitate to choose one for fear of viruses and spyware.
Sue Sanchez and Dave Null

Ogg indicates an Ogg Vorbis open source sound file. There's a range of options, but it's best to choose the one you like from http://www.vorbis.com/setup.

Is there any way I can convert a pair of really good Wharfedale speakers to accommodate a Sony NW-A1200 MP3 player?
Jef Jon Fox

An MP3 player is not going to have enough output to drive a pair of good loudspeakers unless they are "active loudspeakers" -- which means they have their own built in amplifiers. Examples include the Wharfedale Active Diamond range, but there are lots more designed for use with portable music players.

If you have to buy an amplifier to drive the Wharfedales, then the question becomes a familiar one: how do you connect an MP3 player to a hi-fi? In this case, the answer is simple. You just need to buy a connection lead that has a 3.5mm headphone jack on one end (to fit the MP3 player) and a pair of RCA phono plugs on the other end (to fit the amplifier) -- check your systems first!

You can use any line-in input on the amp, and often there's one called AUえーゆーX for auxiliary. If not you can use the one intended for a CD or DVD player or a tape recorder. The input you can't use is the one intended for a turntable.

You should be able to get a cheap cable on the high street, although there are some sold for that specific purpose. For example, Amazon.co.uk has a Hama Connection Cable MP3 for £1.88, while Maplin sells the Groove Connect MP3 cable for £9.99.

Oddly enough, there is a cheap but well-reviewed Chinese-made amplifier that can run on batteries and has a 3.5mm input jack: the Sonic Impact T-Amp. If anyone has used this with an MP3 player, let us know how it works.

Backchat: On using the cheap but great-sounding Sonic Impact T-Amp to blast out music from their MP3 player, Eamonn Twomey responded, saying: "I'm really pleased with mine, purchased on eBay for about 30 quid. As long as you do not want ear-splitting volume, it provides wonderfully clear, detailed sound. It's better if your speakers have a high sensitivity (eg 89dBでしべる). Mine are Mission 731s."

Tom Davis says: "I use my Sonic T-Amp day in day out, both with my Mac laptop and my iPod -- it's great. You need a decent power supply and you're also best off using higher attenuation speakers -- I use Kef Q Compact speakers with mine -- as they need less power. There's also a version of the T-Amp with a restyled box which looks much more stylish. The price is £100+ rather than £30, though!"

I've been the happy owner of JVC GD-V4210PCE plasma screen for some time now. Although it is listed as a lowly 853 x 480 pixel resolution, it still seems able to do a very good job with an HDTV signal (I can't believe it could be bettered, to be honest) and is listed as being 1080i compatible. If I bought a screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080, would I see a discernable difference?
Karl Lear

If you bought a similar 42 inch 1080p screen, fed it with a 1080p signal from a high-definition player (Blu-ray or HD DVD) and sat up to 6 feet away, I'd bet you probably could. However, if you were watching standard or HD broadcast television or a DVD movie from 10 feet, I'd bet you probably couldn't. Your new set might even look worse than your old EDTV (enhanced definition TV) set.

For newcomers, standard television in the UK is 720 x 576 pixels, and there are three HD standards: 720p (1280 x 720), 1080i (1920 x 1080 interlaced) and 1080p (1920 x 1080 progressive scan). "Interlaced" means the screen image is painted in two scans covering alternate lines, whereas "progressive" means it is all done in one scan.

In theory, 1080p is the best. In fact, at the last Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Panasonic ran tests on its stand and most people couldn't tell the difference between its 1080p and 720p screens, so I'm sure they couldn't tell 720p from 1080i. I therefore don't think it's worth paying the extra today for a "true" 1080p HD set unless you have 1080p content from a next-generation player or games console. (Gamers sit closer to the screen.)

In general, you should get the best result if the resolution of the signal matches the resolution of the screen. It rarely does. Most sets up-scale or down-scale (and interlace or de-interlace) whatever they are sent to fit the native resolution: 853 x 480 pixels, in your case. JVC and Panasonic are among the companies that seem to be good at this. A set that does a bad job of upscaling a TV signal to 1080p -- and it's a mammoth processing task -- could end up with a noticeably worse picture, in spite of it being "theoretically" better.

Also, if you delay the upgrade, you can wait for HDMI 1.3 to settle in, and prices will keep coming down.

My wife, a watercolour artist, has painted a picture of autumn inspired by the Windows XP desktop. Her art class colleagues would like to have a go at this. How can I find it to print it?
Roy Bennett

The image is called autumn.jpg so go to C: in Windows Explorer, press F3 and search for it. If it is not found, you may need to go to the advanced options and click Search hidden files and folders. On my machine, the picture is in the C:\WINDOWS\Web\Wallpaper folder.

Whether it is a laptop or new HD Ready TV or the latest DVD player with all "essential" add-ons, how does one decide just what is best or even high quality and good value?
David Beattie

All purchases have an element of risk. Today, however, there is an unprecedented amount of information available online, from magazines such as PC Pro and Hi-Fi World, and from web-only sites such as Trusted Reviews and Digital Photography Review. Some shopping sites carry user reviews: this is one of the attractions of Amazon, for example. AV Forums is often useful when it comes to researching video and home cinema products.

When it comes to finding out what the problems are, the best sources are often company help forums. In some cases, you can find useful external sites by searching for the company or brand name with either "sucks" or "hell". At the moment, this category seems to be led by Talk Talk, rather than NTL or AOL.

Clearly, any product with a large user base is going to throw up some problems. Dell, for example, is shipping almost 40m PCs a year, so even if 95% of its users are happy, there could still be 6m or so with significant gripes. Still, I think you are much more likely to get a realistic view of a product by searching thousands of opinions via Google than the anecdotal evidence from a bloke in a pub who heard about it from a friend. And even if you don't get the best product, you can probably avoid the worst.

I have a short .wav file of two people talking, recorded on a handheld. There is background noise that I would like to clean off.
David Scott

Many sound-recording programs have filters that will attempt to clean up sound, and these are often targeted at improving music transferred from cassette or vinyl. Typically you start with a silent part of the recording, which gives the software a good idea of the background noise that it can subtract from the bits that contain speech or music. The software of choice for this kind of thing used to be Cool Edit, and you may be able to find an old version. It was taken over by Adobe, and is now sold as Audition, which is a bit expensive for passing use.

Today, the standard answer to all sound recording questions is usually Audacity, which is open source and free. It has a good automatic noise cleaning function. For more help, see Geek.com's Tech Tip 105 -- Cleaning Up Audio Files with Audacity.

Note: if the "background noise" includes a lot of variation, such as doors slamming and car horns, simple noise reduction is not going to help much. However, it is possible to reduce the effect of some sound peaks by editing the .wav file manually. If you always work on a copy of the original file, you have nothing to lose by trying.

I liked the old Windows Media Player: it worked, and it didn't look like a PowerPoint presentation made by a student who'd just taken LSD. All I want it to do is play music, not waste hard drive and screen space displaying album art.
Sam Hardy

You probably have an old version of Windows Media Player 6.4 hidden on your hard drive. Search for mplayer2 and create a shortcut for it. I prefer Windows Media Player Classic 6.4, which looks the same but is actually a much more powerful open-source clone. You can download a copy complete with the K-Lite codec pack. The extra benefit is that this also plays .mp4 (H264) movies, a format Microsoft has either overlooked or can't be bothered to support. MPC is not a sophisticated music player but it does support .m3u audio playlists.

There are, of course, plenty of alternative music (rather than media) players. You could try CoolPlayer (http://coolplayer.sourceforge.net/), which is small, fast and open source, or foobar2000 (http://www.foobar2000.com/), which is freeware.

Some friends have asked me about the best way to connect an Xbox to the home broadband connection. From personal experience, HomePlug 14Mbps powerline network adaptors (eg Devolo or eConnect) are the most reliable and cost-effective way of doing this, but the likes of PC World say they have never even heard of this technology! Do the big companies have a vested interest in flogging Wi-Fi, or are they just technologically ignorant?
Mike Whittaker

The idea of connecting devices via mains electricity cables goes back to the 1970s -- for an example, click here -- but it has never really taken off. The HomePlug Powerline Alliance was intended to solve this problem by providing an agreed trade standard on the lines of the Wi-Fi Alliance. However, so far the response from retailers, including Amazon, has been disappointing, and there are not enough users for the "word of mouth" effect to have had an impact.

Like you, I think a couple of HomePlugs would be a good way to connect an Xbox, but I've not seen it done, and don't know anyone who has done it. Reader comments would be welcome.

As well as Devolo (devolo.co.uk) and eConnect (econnecthomeplug.co.uk), Solwise is also worth a look, and sells HomePlugs from its website (solwise.co.uk). Many cheap HomePlug devices have no problems interconnecting and often use the same Intellon chips and software. (Intellon developed the HomePlug standard.) Faster devices are available up to 200Mbps, but 14Mbps is fast enough for broadband, and will probably run faster than Wi-Fi.

Backchat: Thanks to all the readers who have written in support of HomePlugs, including Chris Wheater, John Martin Johnson, Roger Haydon, Arthur Chance, Martin Jones and Huw Price. Louise Barrett, from Solwise, a HomePlug supplier, says that 14Mbps devices typically work at between 5Mbps and 8Mbps and something faster would be needed for streaming video to an Xbox 360. However, she warns that the 200Mbps HomePlug -- ideal for streaming HDTV -- is not compatible with the slower devices: "They will co-exist on the same mains but will not 'talk' to them."

Are any TV broadcasters providing coverage to their subscribers over the internet? For example, instead of using Slingbox or Sony's Locationfree or Orb or TiVo To Go, you could just watch things on their website.
Paul Wood

More than 400 TV stations from Albania to Zimbabwe provide TV programmes over the net, including the BBC and America's PBS. However, many just provide news clips and a few archived programs rather than streaming their whole output. Almost all these public services are free. Given the usual small windows, stuttering displays and unreliable connections, it would be hard to charge for them.

See Lifehacker for links to some good TV portals such as Channel Chooser (www.channelchooser.com) and Choose And Watch (www.chooseandwatch.com).

Bear in mind that watching TV online consumes a lot of bandwidth, so you will probably need an unlimited account.

I have installed a digital decoder. Using an indoor digi-aerial (from Argos), I can receive most but not quite all of the signals advertised. Is there a unit that gives a better signal?
Andrew Healy

The Freeview site says bluntly: "To receive the best possible reception, we do recommend your digital box or digital TV is connected to a rooftop aerial. Therefore we do advise against using an indoor aerial to receive Freeview." Signal strength varies greatly according to where you live, but if you do use an indoor aerial, you are very unlikely to get the best results.

Still, there are a few ways you can improve your chances. For example: use a powered aerial that boosts the signal; position it high up and as close as you can to a window; point it in the direction of the nearest transmitteror swivel it round until you get the best signal. Also, keep the aerial away from large bits of metal, computer equipment and household appliances, if you can.

Argos offers a Total Control Freeview Indoor Aerial for £14.99, which I guess is the one you have.

You could try swapping it for one of the other options from Argos, or have a look at Maplin.co.uk for a good range of alternatives. I suspect most of these aerials give very similar performance, but would be interested to hear if anyone has found one that works unusually well.

Backchat: A DTI spokesman says: "Recent independent research prepared for the Department of Trade and Industry by Ricability (a national research charity) has identified three aerials - the Telecam TCE2000 and TCE2001, and the Philips 45dBでしべる SDV4240/05 - as giving the best chance of good digital TV reception. Costs range from £9.99 to £26.98. Full results and further advice are available at www.ricability-digitaltv.org.uk."

Simon Watkins tested several Maplins aerials using Elgato EyeTV software and reports that "the One For All amplified aerials worked very well, but their flat panel aerials were more susceptible to interference - particularly motorbikes passing outside." He says the One For All amplified loop products are "at a reduced price at Currys Digital stores".

What will clean sticky finger marks off discs that no longer work after a child has handled them?
Stanley Russell

A very small amount of mild soap and clean water will generally do the job. However, if it's a case of rescuing a number of non-working discs, it is probably worth buying a circular CD cleaning kit with a spray-on cleaning fluid -- Maplin stocks one for £2.99 -- or a packet of moist disc wipes. As you'd expect, Mr Clean PC (www.mrpcclean.co.uk) offers a wide range of products.

You should use a lint-free or microfibre cloth that won't leave fibres behind: an old well-washed hanky might do at a pinch, but don't use paper tissues, which are both abrasive and disintegrate*. Also, make sure you don't grind any bits of grit into the disc surface. But even badly scratched discs can often be rescued using special machines that grind away a little of the surface. This is often a problem with PlayStation 2 discs so your local games shop may have a deal with a company that offers the service.

* Free Web-only advice: for the same reasons, never use paper tissues to clean your ears!

Backchat: N Cook says: "You failed to mention the most important thing: Always clean data/audio or video CDs in a radial sense, not circumferentially, so that any microscratches are across and not along the data paths."

Can you recommend a free, simple, downloadable CD player for Windows?
Stanley Russell

Stick an audio CD into a PC and Windows will play it, which is as simple as it gets. However, CDmax is a simple CD player that downloads artist/title/track information from the Freedb CD database and saves it on your hard drive. It used to be freeware, but now it's shareware.

Other suggestions welcome.....

I have read with interest how the Slingbox product will enable me to watch TV remotely. Can I really operate my TV/DVD recorder from my laptop when abroad?
Bob Evans

Slingbox has just launched its Toblerone-style Personal Broadcaster in the UK at around £180. This plugs into your TV system -- aerial, DVR, Freeview or satellite set-top box or whatever. You must also connect it to your broadband router, preferably via a standard Ethernet cable. The Slingbox includes an infrared emitter to emulate a remote control. You can then operate your system remotely from a Windows PC using SlingPlayer software, or a Windows Mobile PDA or some smartphones.

There's a "product tour" at www.slingmedia.com/uk.

An alternative is Orb (www.orb.com/what_is_orb/orb_tv/). This free software lets you "place shift" any media files running on your PC (Windows XP SP2), and view or listen to them remotely using almost any device with a streaming media capability (Windows Media Player 9, WinAmp, RealPlayer 10, QuickTime), including Nokia Series 60 and Sony-Ericsson P900, w800/900i, etc phones. You can also view a webcam.

Orb makes sense if you already have a PC with a supported TV tuner, but offers less support than Slingbox for set-top boxes and IR controllers.

Note: I have not tried either myself.

I expect Orb (or something similar) to be widely adopted by phone companies. Vodafone uses it in Germany for its MeinPC service.

I have been thoroughly spooked by stories of the potentially limited shelf-life of iBook hard drives, as I have 2,000 songs (6GB) in iTunes. What's the best way to back up these files?
Yours in vague terror,
Jamie Milne

All hard drives fail eventually, and even if they didn't, your PC could fail in a different way, or be stolen, so back-ups are essential. The obvious option is to burn audio CDs of the tracks, which also removes the iTunes copy protection. This is pretty secure, but takes time. You can also back up your songs to CD or DVD as data files: Apple offers step-by-step instructions, or see the account at One Digital Life.

It's quicker and more convenient to back up to an external USB or FireWire drive, trusting to luck that two hard drives don't fail at the same time. External drives are cheap - I just bought a 320GB model for £130.

You could buy an iPod to provide a backup, and also provide music on the move. However, if your iBook fails, the iPod will not want to move your music back to what it will see as a different computer. There are ways round that, including the Backstage program from Widgetfab.com; the free but Mac only Senuti (www.fadingred.org/senuti/); and CopyPod.

Incidentally, the G3 iBook has a relatively poor record for reliability. A MacInTouch.com survey of more than 10,000 notebooks found that between 49% and 74% of G3 iBooks needed repairs, mainly due to motherboard problems. However, the G4 model has a much better record. You can check yours at http://www.macintouch.com/reliability/laptops.html#results.

TVs seem to be well provided for with their set-top boxes, but I have yet to see anything in the general press about devices for radios. Is there any move to convert analogue radios in this way and, if so, can you recommend any devices?
David Bishop

There are several products that can be plugged in to a traditional radio or hi-fi tuner to enable them to receive digital audio broadcasts. You can check what's available by going to the Digitalradionow.com site's product finder (http://www.digitalradionow.com/prodf.php#results), clicking on Type of Radio and selecting Adaptors. For home users, the options are the DA-1 adaptor from Dixons (£44) and the Genus DU1 Digital Radio Upgrade (£50, www.genusdigital.com/du1.htm). However, the existing radio must have some sort of line-in plug such as an AUえーゆーX socket, though the DU1 also works with optical S/P DIF. There's also the Revo Dock (£50, http://www.revo.co.uk/digital-radio/home.php), "coming soon", to connect a Revo digital radio to a home system. I have not heard any of these products and cannot comment on their sound quality, but the prices seem rather high compared with the cost of buying a new standalone digital radio. An adaptor could make sense if you have a radio that delivers good quality FM but you want to use DAB to listen to an AM (medium wave) station such as Radio Five Live.

My second generation iPod has died after three years of service. I am reluctant to purchase a new model if Apple is about to release one with a full touch screen, which I have heard rumours of.
Tom Byng

The Think Secret website mentioned this model -- which has a "virtual track wheel" -- in February and it was supposed to be out by April. If it exists, it should be out by Christmas -- but Apple isn't saying anything. If you read www.Macrumors.com, www.ThinkSecret.com etc, your guess is as good as ours.

Have you done a column explaining how to turn a vinyl record collection into digital files. I tried searching on the Guardian site, with no success.
Simon Pirani and others

I don't think I have. However, it's pretty much the same as converting cassette tapes, which I covered here:
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/askjack/story/0,,1595707,00.html

By far the most comprehensive guide I know is Transferring LPs to CDR: Some Advice, which you should read in conjunction with Clive's FAQ About Audio on a PC.

CNet also has a simple guide (actually from Computer Shopper) in its Weekend Project series -- Turn LPs and cassettes into digital media files -- and there's another account here.

Extra software may also come in useful. For example, there's LP Ripper, which "automatically splits the file [from one side of an LP] into a separate WAV file for each track".

It may help to have a utility that removes pops and clicks. Some programs have one built in (eg GoldWave). There's also WaveRepair (shareware and written by Clive, above), DePopper ($18, but the home Web site is down), and Wave Corrector (£28), which has declick and de-hiss utilities, and also splits files into tracks. Comments and suggestions welcome....

My wife has subscribed to Sibelius Music's service and thinks it is wonderful. The only difficulty is that her computer is not where she wants the music most of the time. We could extend the speaker cables but that would be messy and inconvenient.
Graeme O Churchard

The simplest option would be to buy wireless speakers, or even wireless headphones. These come with a wireless transmitter that should plug into the PC sound output via a 3.5mm jack. Searching for "wireless speakers" (at http://www.buycentral.co.uk/qsh/wireless+speakers.html) finds a number of products such as CGV's wireless speakers and the Rimax Wireless Speakers. Both are available from several sources, so shop around. I have not heard any of these products and cannot comment on the sound quality, but perhaps readers can.

Correction: Sorry, the original said "3.5in jack"!

My son has downloaded eMule. What exactly does it do? Is it safe and legal?
John Le Vay

eMule is a popular file-sharing client: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMule for details. It uses a credit system that forces people to share (upload) files, not just download them. It is legal to use eMule, but it can be used to share copyright music, TV shows and movies, which isn't legal. Uploaders are more likely to be sued than downloaders, and some eMule/eDonkey users have been sued, but millions of people still use it.

I downloaded Sky's Broadband on Sky software, after which my usually fast PC went into snail-paced mode. I removed the software but the computer was still very, very slow. So I went to a restore point before the software download and now all is well. What's going on?
Patrick S Briggs

Sky by Broadband lets subscribers download Sky movies free. What may be less obvious is that you are not downloading them from Sky but mainly from other users. The Sky software installs a copy of Kontiki's peer-to-peer file-sharing software, and this runs whenever you start your PC, whether you use Sky's service or not. It is consuming your bandwidth, but you agreed to allow your PC be used to upload files to other users, and this is stated in the terms and conditions.

The same Kontiki program is used by the BBC's iMP project and the Open Media Network. You should be able to uninstall it using the Add/Remove Programs applet, as claimed in Kontiki's help file. After that, run the KClean.exe program, which is available from the BBC, Download.com and other sites.

Update: Several versions of KClean.exe have sudenly, and strangely, disappeared. The BBC site no longer works, a chunk of Open Media's page has simply vanished, and Kontiki's site no longer offers it.

DVD players can play CDs, but are they good enough to make it worth connecting the output to a reasonable quality hi-fi separates system?
Alan Kennedy

You have nothing to lose by connecting a DVD player, and should get much better sound with your movies, so it is worth doing. In my experience (with my Quad 77/Harbeth system), DVD players do not produce hi-fi quality results with CDs, but they are not sold at hi-fi prices. However, many "universal" DVD players can also play SACD (Super Audio CD) and DVD-Audio discs, and these can provide much better sound than CDs. The Denon DVD-1920 -- £220 from Superfi -- plays DVD, DVD-A and SACD discs. I have not heard it, but it won an award from What Hi-Fi.

I am interested in listening to internet radio. My broadband package is limited to 3GB of downloads per month. How is that calculated when you listen to internet radio?
Chu Lim

The download is calculated by adding up the data received over the listening time, as though you were downloading a file. Internet radio stations can send anything from 16 kilobits per second (low quality voice) to 128kbps (high quality stereo). If a station broadcasts at 56kbps, that's around 25 megabytes per hour. Listening for four hours a day would use your monthly 3GB allowance.

"Most people have been complaining to Sony about their stuck and dead pixels. Well I have done my research and I heard about a guy over at psphacks.net that had a LCD TV that had some stuck pixels and when he went to Best-Buy they gave him a dvd that flashed Red, Green and Blue over and over again. This supposedly "un-sticks" the stuck pixels, by calling them to do rapid changes (To my understanding). So I thought about it for a while, and I said, what the heck, I'll try it. So I made my own video that does this, and it works!" says a post by Nick Toohill at PSP Vault.

You can download the video there. I haven't tried it, but in the comments, some people claim that it works -- and some that it doesn't. Either way,m it will not work on pixels that are dead (unlit), only ones that are stuck on a solid colour.

I'm thinking of upgrading to a hard drive MP3 player with a rechargeable battery. Do these eventually wear out and have to be replaced?
Mike Pigott

Most drive-based players now use Li-ion batteries that can be recharged roughly 500 times, and their performance degrades gradually even when not being used. Their useful life can vary dramatically according to treatment and use, but batteries may well need replacing after three years - and there was a furore over Apple's iPod when some users' batteries failed after 18 months or so.

It would therefore be wise to check whether the battery can be replaced at a reasonable cost, and whether the machine has to be returned to the manufacturer to do this.

The Battery University has advice on prolonging Li-ion battery life. Also bear in mind that small MP3 hard drives are about as likely to fail as batteries, not necessarily from wearing out, but from being dropped.

Will I damage my computer and video equipment if I disconnect it overnight? I am concerned that most of my power consumption is during "standby"!
Richard Beaton

There certainly used to be a feeling that leaving equipment running gave better reliability, by avoiding power surges and the mechanical strains involved in starting things like hard drives. However, I can't see any evidence that this applies today, and much equipment now "stops" to a standby mode simply to save startup time. (A PC's off switch may not turn it off, unless you hold it down for about five seconds.) You may reduce the risk of fire if you physically unplug electrical equipment.

You can get a rough idea of electricity use from the size of the item's power supply. To check standby use, it may be worth investing in a simple plug-in mains power and energy monitor such as the L61AQ from Maplin. For monitoring household use, an Australian invention has arrived in the UK as the Electrisave -- a small device that clips on to your electricity meter and tells you how much your house is spending per minute.

Footnote: If anyone knows of a better/cheaper device than the L61AQ (which seems ot have doubled in price), please let me know!

I'm just about to have to get rid of my antique hi-fi because it's just too big. Would it be stupid to spend money on another CD player when it could be going (presumably) towards an iPod plus lovely speakers? I want something small and good quality. I'm not bothered about music on the move.
Suzannah Deane

There presumably will be a time when all music and movies will be downloaded in digitised form, but it's not within the likely lifetime of any disk-based MP3 player you can buy today. Hard drives and batteries have much shorter lifespans than good hi-fi equipment, which lasts for decades.

At the moment, digital music is not the route to a simple life. If you buy and download tracks, you have to pay high prices for copy-protected music that is less than CD quality. It involves operating a PC with an internet connection, downloading and copying tracks to the MP3 player, and probably backing them up to CD or DVD. If you create your own non-protected files, this involves extra work "ripping" CDs. This is OK for people who listen to music on their PCs and portable players, but not a good starting point for home hi-fi.

You will also have an extra problem, because you like classical music and ballet. Although more than a million songs are now legally available online, classical music is generally not well represented.

I think, therefore, you would be better off with what the audio world calls a "micro system". There are lots of models available, but hi-fi quality seems to start with the Denon D-M33. I'd suggest the D-M35 DAB, which includes a CD player and digital as well as AM and FM radio, and comes with small SC-M73 speakers. If CDs do become obsolete, you can plug an MP3 player in the back, and still get better sound than you would from the little speakers designed for MP3 players.

I am in the market for a hard drive MP3 player, but after trawling through a variety of websites, I am yet to find one that can provide me with the information I need.
Ant Smallwood

Most MP3 comparison sites don't have much information, or concentrate on price searches. You could try CNet Asia's site, which lets you tick likely prospects then compare several players side by side. Apart from that, I'm open to suggestions.

I am increasingly playing music on my PC for choice and convenience. Now I want to listen to it downstairs in a separate room without cabling. Is there, essentially, a remote control for Windows Media Player? I could use an MP3 player but that would limit my choices.
Peter Stanley

The simple answer is to buy a SlimDevices Squeezebox 3 (www.slimdevices.com). This is a Wi-Fi device supporting 802.11g with a nice visual display and a simple remote control. It streams MP3, WMA, AAC, Ogg Vorbis and FLAC lossless audio files, plus MP2 and internet radio. (There's also a wired Ethernet version.) The RCA phono connectors, S/P-DIF, optical TOSlink and coax connections mean you should be able to plug it into any hi-fi or home cinema system. It works with Windows XP/2000/NT, Mac OS X and Linux, and is reasonably priced. SlimDevices pioneered this market with the SLIMP3. With the Squeezebox now up to version 3, it should have had time to iron out most of the kinks.

The complicated answer is that there are lots of ways of doing the job. Devices include the Philips MCW770 Wireless PC-Link, D-Link's DSM-320 Wireless Media Player and DSM-520 MediaLounge, the Buffalo Linktheater High-Definition Wireless Media Player, Roku's SoundBridge, Creative's SoundBlaster Wireless Music Receiver, the Bluewalker Wireless Hi-Fi Link, Apple's Airport Express, Pinnacle's Show Center and Microsoft's Xbox 360 games console.

Searching for "digital audio receiver" and "wireless media player" will give you an idea of the range available. Some devices stream MPeg and other types of video, as well as music files. However, I think only the somewhat limited Airport Express will stream protected music from the iTunes Music Store.

One attractive (but relatively expensive) option is the Buffalo PC-P3LWG/DVD wireless media player, which has 802.11g Wi-Fi plus a built in DVD player that supports HDTV (720p and 1080i formats). You can stick this under your TV set, it has a USB port for digital cameras and thumb-drives etc, and it also connects to your PC. If you have an Xbox 360 plugged into your TV, this can also stream media from a Windows Media Center PC. Many similar products will no doubt follow.

So, something may meet your needs better than a Squeezebox, but it may not be easy to find it.

Update: I wasn't trying to provide a complete list of products above, but some idea of the range of ways of tackling the problem. One I missed was Sonos Digital Music System, which works as a standalone product and creates its own wireless network. You don't need a PC to use one, but if you have a PC with a Wi-Fi connection, the Sonos will use it as a source.

I want to be able to rip the audio from my CDs into wma/mp3/ogg and store it on my PC. At the same time, I want to catalogue the CDsin a database on my PC by downloading the album info from one of the online CD databases. I want the database to be searchable and editable, so I can add extra fields of my own. Everything I have found does one or the other not both.
Ian Nurser

I don't know of one either, but you could have a look at MediaMonkey. It does the burning and the database bit, but it may not be flexible enough. There's a comment field, and the blurb says: "The serious music collector can also assign a broad range of more advanced attributes, such as composer, original year and album, and lyrics."

Just from the dataase point of view, Music Collector looks a better bet. (What do other people use?)

However, you should think seriously about whether you are ripping your CDs temporarily or permanently. A lot of people converted their CDs at too low a quality and perhaps to the wrong audio format, which is fine if you don't mind doing the job again. To repeat some advice I gave earlier:

Although it is convenient to use WMP to create WMA files, and it does include a Lossless option, consider alternatives such as using EAC (Exact Audio Copy) to rip the CDs then converting to another format using Lame. There are several websites that will walk you through the process, such as Radified and The Coaster Factory. Hydrogen Audio has a good guide to setting up EAC and can also help with using EAC to create FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) files: see http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=EAC_and_Flac.

Any suggestions for an appropriately matching name for one of a pair of new kittens, given that we fancy calling the other Pixel’? ((Not an original starting point, I know.)
John Clare

There are quite a few cats called Pixel, some with Web sites -- nice use of the .mu domain here! This is thanks mainly to Robert Heinlein's book, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls.

You can also get Pixel Cat T-shirts from Cafepress.

The obvious suggestions are Pixel and Shader, or Pixel and Buffer. Anyone got a better idea?

I have no TV and, therefore, do not pay for a TV licence. However, the BBC is planning to allow people to download and view their programmes on their computers. Does this mean that I will require a TV licence for my laptop?
Victoria Richardson

It seems this is still under discussion. The BBC's interactive media player iMP lets you download and view programmes up to a week after they have been transmitted. It does not obviously fall under the law that says, to quote the BBC: "A licence is required to receive programmes broadcast 'live' or 'virtually live'."

The BBC's iMP help file says: "Advances in technology mean that in some instances the ability to download programmes via iMP might bring them within the television licensing regime. iMP is currently a technical trial with around 4,000 participants, and we are currently reviewing the specific legal and policy implications of the service."

However, since you don't need a TV licence to watch a BBC series on DVD, I don't see why you should need one to watch it from a memory card or a hard drive.

I have many important documents and photos in JPEG format that I'd like to password protect. I am running Microsoft Windows XP but there seems to be no way to do this.
John Thompson

In Windows XP Pro, you can right click an image (or other file), and select Properties. Go down to Attributes and click the button that says Advanced. The lowest of the four options says: Encrypt contents to secure data. However, I'd suggest this feature is in the 10-foot bargepole category: I wouldn't use it.

However, there are independent programs that will do the job, such as JpegGuard and CryptaPix 2.24. There are other options here.

Alternatively you can passord protect any file you like using a compression program such as WinRAR -- or protect a whole folder full -- or use a more general encryption program such as Magic Folders.

I own various vinyl LPs and would like to have the music available digitally to listen to on my iPod. I could set up a system to transfer them to my hard drive from a turntable, but it would be a lot easier to just download the same tracks using P2P file sharing. As I own the tracks anyway, and would only be making the copies for my personal use, would this second option be illegal?
David Fardon

IANAL (I am not a lawyer), so anyone with a legal background is welcome to comment. However, as far as I can see, it's probably illegal everywhere. Whoever uploaded the music from the original CD has broken the copyright, unless they have permission to redistribute the content. It can't be legal to download an illegal copy, even if you have the right to make your own copy.

If you could get a jury trial, the "I own the vinyl" argument might appeal, but I wouldn't expect a British judge to show any sympathy. Does anyone know of any UK case law?

The What's the Download campaign has a FAQ that seems to put the US music industry position pretty well....

A friend in a band wants a digital audio recorder for music. So far we can only find one from Olympus, which records speech but not music. Any ideas?
Chris Dewey

Most digital recorders are intended for voice and are unsuitable for music, but one of the iRiver range of MP3 players, might be worth a go. These can record to MP3 from a built-in microphone, a line-in jack or the integrated FM radio. However, for serious use, the main choices seem to be the M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96, at around £350, and the Edirol R-1 portable recorder from Roland, which is £20 cheaper. Both record to MP3 or - better - WAV format to CompactFlash cards or Microdrives. Both products are sold online by Solid State Sound and Digital Village, and the latter also has shops.

MicroTrack from Solid State Sound

I have a DigiTV card in my computer and record stuff to my hard drive. However, as the audio is recorded in MP2 format I'm unable to transfer it to my Aiwa HZ-WS200 MP3 player as it won't support MP2 files.
Do you know of a program (preferably free) that will allow me to convert MP2 to MP3? Would converting it to a wave file and then to MP3 be possible, and if so, would there be a loss of quality?
Kevin Gibson

I haven't done this, so I haven't tried the various bits of software that claim to do the job. Searching Google suggests Ufony, but it isn't free. (There are other options at http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Best/_mp2-to-_mp3.html) I'd also wonder if you could use vDub (or nanDub) to convert and save out the audio.

Does anyone have any better ideas. please?

Converting from one lossy compression format to another lossy format will certainly lead to some loss in audio quality, but it may not matter for your purposes.

I suppose I have to accept the current obsession with the mobile (Ask Jack, September 15), but a DAB radio tuner on an MP3 player -- that would be something.
John Palmer

Ray Devaney (above) asked about this last year, and I suggested the Perstel DR201, which wasn't available. Now there's also the DR301, which supports MP2 (ie DAB), MP3 and WMA. See www.perstel.co.uk/productsnew.html#dr301.

Is there a restriction on the number of files that can be saved to a USB drive?
Jim Mc Allister

As far as I know, the only limitation is the imposed by the file system. A USB thumb drive, memory card or phone is likely to use FAT16, the “file allocation table” system from Microsoft’s old DOS disk operating system. This can store a maximum of 512 files in the root directory -- and this assumed 8-character file names! If the card is 512MB or larger, it probably uses Windows 95’s FAT32 file system, which has no such limit. Since using 8.3 filenames (eg Track001.mp3) is probably impractical, you may need to store FAT16 files in separate folders.

Footnote:FAT32 was introduced with Windows 95 release 2.

Could you elaborate on plasma versus LCD TVs? My old telly has just given up the ghost and I don't really know the difference between the two.
Fergus M Crossen

Both plasma and LCD TVs are attempts to solve the same problem: how do you make a big, flat screen without forcing a very large and very heavy bit of glass - a cathode ray tube - into an unnatural shape? Of course, both solutions have their own problems.

Plasma screens work by lighting up tiny cells of rare gases (xenon and neon) sandwiched between two plates of glass, so it is fairly straightforward to make large screens. These screens are very bright and have good contrast with deep blacks. They also have wide viewing angles, so you still get a good view from the side.

LCD screens use columns of liquid crystal molecules controlled by a matrix of transistors (in TFT or thin-film transistor designs). Some of these transistors are likely to be defective, which leads to dead pixels, and the larger the screen, the harder it is to avoid them. LCD screens are lit from behind, so they are not as bright or as contrasty as plasma screens, and may look less bright if you are off to one side. Also, they don't react as quickly as plasma screens, and may smear fast action.

However, LCD screens have made dramatic progress during two decades of laptop PC development, and these problems have largely been overcome.

LCD screens also have some useful advantages over plasma screens. They are thinner, lighter and more robust, which makes them much easier to move around. For those with ecological concerns, LCDs use little power, whereas plasma screens use lots. Further, an LCD should last roughly twice as long as a plasma screen, which may have a "half life" of only 30,000 to 40,000 hours. (The "half life" is when the screen has degraded to half its brightness, and you may well throw it away.)

As always, different buyers value different features. If you want a really big wall-mounted screen and money is no object, go for plasma. If you want a small or medium-sized screen that you can move around, go for LCD. Either way, look for a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) and an "HD ready" logo, so you will be ready for high-definition TV.

Like everyone else, I have a big collection of music on my PC and I would like to route this through my amp to my big speakers, rather than through my little computer speakers.
Gerry McArdle

Your PC probably has a soundcard with an audio jack to connect to your PC speakers, and your amp almost certainly has red and white phono plugs (RCA connectors). All you need to link the two is a cable with a stereo audio jack on one end (check the size) and phono plugs on the other. These cables are cheap and readily available at high street electrical stores. Plug the phono sockets into an AUえーゆーX input and remember to turn the volume to zero before you try to play anything. There are, of course, much more sophisticated - and much more expensive - alternatives, such as Slim Devices' Squeezebox 2

Should I go ahead and buy DVD recorder or wait for Blu-ray?
Bob Bishop

Buy now. When "next generation" Blu-ray players arrive in the UK, they will be more expensive than DVD players, and recorders will be even more expensive. Also, there will be very few pre-recorded discs available. By contrast, today's DVD players and recorders are extremely cheap, and there is an abundance of cheap discs to play on them. It therefore makes sense to wait until Blu-ray hardware has been launched and debugged, and the prices of both recorders and blank media have fallen to reasonable levels.

In this case, there may also be a formats war which makes waiting even more advisable. However, you may already be able to pick up a Blu-ray recorder. For example, Babyimpressions has offered the Sony model (five available) on eBay.com for only $3,875, plus $262 for shipping from Japan to the US. See http://cgi.ebay.com, while it lasts...