Al Griffin

Q: It was my understanding that music fi les recorded on CD-R had a 100- year life expectancy based on laboratory studies. However, a recent study commissioned by the Library of Congress found that music fi les on CD-R last only 3 to 5 years before they start to fade. Does this mean that it’s necessary to re-record music CD-Rs every couple of years to preserve them?
Gary Johnson | Duluth, MN

Plug and Play

Q: How do you attach an iPod or similar MP3 player to a stereo receiver or AVR to maximize playback quality? I’m a longtime subscriber, but I only remember seeing you give examples of the “minimalist” approach using small speakers and docks designed specifically for iPods.

--Ronald V. Tancredi | Farmingdale, NY

At 3D theaters, you’re handed lightweight passive glasses that work in tandem with a polarizing filter positioned over the projector’s lens. When viewing at home with a 3D TV, you use bulky, battery-powered glasses with active shutter liquid-crystal lenses. Passive glasses in theaters are cheap and easily replaced. But at an average cost of $100 per pair, glasses used at home represent a sizable investment. Better to put them in a safe place — and keep ’em away from kids!

Blu-ray players are becoming less a means to play discs than a gateway to online services — and to any media stored on computers, smartphones, and iDevices lying around your home. Take LG’s BD670. You might pick up this modest-looking machine thinking you’d use it to play Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D discs, along with DVDs and CDs.