DAB Upgrade & IR Control

["rb_ziggy" <richard.boreham@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Spotted one of these in John Lewis and thought it would be ideal for
an upgrade to my whole house audio:

http://www.johnlewis.com/Audio+and+TV/Audio+and+Hi-Fi/Radios/DAB+Digital+Radios/230211513/Product.aspx

(There is another version that allows 30 mins of pause & playback.)

However, this would require me to install remote IR control from the
node 0 PC to this device and I don't have this at present.  The
obvious route seems to be Girder and a USB UIRT but the cost of these
is more than the DAB radio and I only need it for this one device so
it seems overkill. So 2 questions:

1. Is there a cheaper route for controlling one device from PC serial
or USB?

2. Has Girder always been a commercial product? (I seem to remember it
being freeware but perhaps I'm mistaken.)

Ta

Richard