iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual, Fourth Edition

Speakers for the iPod

You can hook up your iPod to a home audio system to share your sounds, but sometimes it’s more convenient to get the iPod a set of speakers to call its own. Most speakers designed to take input from a portable CD or MP3 player work fine with the iPod, but here are a few notable options.

Note

The iPod accessories category has grown by leaps and bounds since 2001, and you can find a huge selection of speakers, docks, and cables in most electronics shops and retail Apple Stores. If there are no physical Apple Stores near you, let your fingers do the walking over to the virtual storefront at http://store.apple.com.

Altec Lansing inMotion Portable iPod Speakers

Portable, self-powered, and supremely Podly, Altec Lansing’s line of new inMotion speakers have been letting iPods raise the roof with booming sound for several years. The company makes dockable speakers that fit full-size iPods, Nanos, and Minis, and prices range from about $250 for the totally tubular iM7 speakers for regular iPods to $130 for the iMmini speakers for the iPod Mini. When plugged in, the speakers also charge the connected iPod and many inMotion models come with remote controls. The full line of inMotion speakers can be seen online at http://www.alteclansing.com/inmotion.

Sony SRS-T57 Folding Travel Speakers

Whether your journey is long or short, these speakers won’t take up much room in your bag, because you can fold them in half and tuck them away until you want to turn on the music. The speakers ...