European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 13, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Home front dirt free stereo creates cleaner sound sound advice Spring cleaning should include the stereo system if you want to continue to get top performance from it. Dirt dust cigarette smoke and air pollutants can degrade the performance of cd and records phonographs and tape decks. Luckily the solutions Are simple and for the most part inexpensive. A a fingerprints Are the biggest problem with cd. Compact disk players ignore most dirt but if too much accumulates there will be Clicks fuzzy distortion or track skipping. A cd a smooth surface is far easier to clean than an lpns grooved one. It can be done with a clean Damp cloth taking care to wipe across the disk rather than around it in circles and being especially gentle with the Label Side. A cd a sound is affected Only by dirt on its unlabelled playing surface but the Label Side is so thinly coated that scratches there can easily make the disk unplayable. Minor scratches on a cd a playing Side usually do not affect the sound and can be ignored unless they grow bad enough to cause audible problems. If they do try cleaning the disk first because dirt can Worsen the effects of scratches. If that does not help try polishing the scratch away. Polishes Are sold for this purpose but rally Cream Auto Wax does just As Good a Job for far less Money. A if your player skips on Many disks its Lens might be dirty especially if it performs in a heavy smoking household. Several companies make Lens cleaners that compact disks should be cleaned by wiping across the surface not in circles. A amps i Emma my lib wis or Load like disks for about $20 to $30. A for records unlike cd a Good cleaner should be moved around the disk a never across it a and should have fibres that penetrate the grooves. A Good Brush and fluid should do the trick. Static electricity can attract dust to your cleaned record surfaces. Conductive record brushes can Drain away some of the Static charge especially if the Brush is grounded to a water pipe or Radiator while you use it. A dirt on phonograph styluses though hard to see also reduces sound Quality and shortens record life. The stylus can be cleaned with a thin tipped camels hair Paintbrush but better results Are sometimes obtained with a special Brush and fluid or a Small Battery powered stylus clean ers. Both do about equally Well but the electronic models which vibrate dirt free at ultrasonic frequencies Are safer for your stylus if you do not have absolutely steady hands. A like styluses the tape Heads inside a recorder require cleaning. A Cotton swab and a Standard tape head cleaning solution work Well if your decks Heads Are accessible. For cassette decks with Heads that Are not accessible there Are cassette shaped cleaning devices from Many companies. Models that clean the motor driven Metal capstan and rubber Pinch roller that move the tape Are preferable to those that just clean the Heads. New York time improper storage can ruin slides. Of i i have thousands of slides gathered Over the years which i keep in plastic sheets. I chose this method because it allows me easy filing and retrieval. The types of plastic sheets vary since they have been purchased at different times and at different places. Now under magnification with my hand Lens some slides Are showing moisture beads. I would like to know what kind of plastic pages Are Safe for Long term storage and which i should replace. Also should the slides with moisture beads be dried with a hair dryer a worse than moisture beads. What has probably happened is that the plastic has exuded chemicals that Are causing the slide to stick to the surface of the Container. You should handle these slides with great care and dispatch. Get them out of those plastic sleeve pockets and into new ones. Be careful a they May be sticking. If you can get them out unharmed i  recommend using a hair dryer. Let them air  i i i suspect that what you re seeing is far As for the storage of slides in plastic i spoke with Bill Hollenger president of conservation resources inc. In Springfield va., and he reminded me of the danger in using some plastics for storing slides. Hollenger suggested that if you want to use the plastic sheets be sure that they Are made from polypropylene plastic and not polyethylene. Polyethylene releases fumes that can condense onto your slides. Q i years ago i took a number of regular 8mm movie reels. I cannot recall the Asa number for that Kodak color film. I think it was 20, the Only Speed available in those Days. Could that be right a i could be. I spoke with a Kodak representative and he confirmed that the 8mm movie film followed along with the development of still picture film. The earliest a a modern Kodachrome was Asa 25, but there was an earlier version that was slightly slower. I also checked with a longtime film editor who confirms that the Asa 20 has to be close. Washington Post May 13,1990 sunday c Page 5