Sound Advice: Both types of camera stabilization work well

Q I am buying a digital SLR camera. Is optical stabilization or sensor-shift stabilization better?

MARK COYNE, ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.

A Both work extremely well. Optical stabilization is slightly more effective, but to have a 100 percent stabilized system, every lens must incorporate stabilization. This increases weight, complexity and cost, as well as the available selection of lenses. Canon, Nikon and Panasonic are the biggest proponents of optical stabilization.

Sensor-shift stabilization is built into the camera, so every lens you mount is stabilized. Almost all Olympus, Pentax and Sony SLRs incorporate sensor-shift stabilization.

I favor sensor-shift stabilization. I know that optical is slightly more effective, but I am willing to give up a bit of effectiveness for the luxury of having every single lens I mount on the camera stabilized, especially my close-up lenses. If I were shooting sports or wildlife with extreme telephoto lenses, I would opt for optical stabilization.

Looking for better sound Q I want to get better sound out of my iPod's earphones, but I am a college student and don't have a big budget. Can I get something worthwhile for $50 or less?

AMBER N., OAKLAND, CALIF.

There are also some interesting new options from the Speaker Company (www.thespeakercompany.com). It carries small isolating earphones from $40 to $119 and active noise-canceling headphones for $69 and $79. If you are not satisfied, you can return them for a full refund.

Poor sound quality Q I notice a big difference in sound quality when I play music from iTunes over my home stereo system. The original CDs sound much better. Why does this happen, and is there anything I can do?

ERIK HARRIE, BETHEL PARK, PA.

A The audio compression used to fit lots of music into a little bit of hard drive space can compromise sound quality. You can change to Apple Lossless Compression under the importing options to preserve all of the sound quality on your CDs, but it will come at a cost of hard-drive space.