RAY: This is a real-life Puzzler that recently happened to me.

Not long ago, I was convinced by my younger son that we needed a new CD player for our sound system. So we bought a new CD player, which holds three CDs instead of one. We installed it, and it worked beautifully.

Then I had a brainstorm. In my kitchen, I have a fancy Bose radio. But I was too cheap to get the CD player with it. Now, suddenly, I have an extra CD player.

I move the old CD player to the kitchen, plug it in, and start listening to my favorite CD, Tish Hinojosa.

Much to my disappointment, the CD is skipping all over the place. I throw another CD in the player, and it plays perfectly. I become convinced that there's something wrong with the Tish Hinojosa CD. So I go ahead and put it into the new CD player. It's perfect.

How could moving the old CD player 50 feet from the living room to the kitchen possibly have made it malfunction?

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]