The On Stage Micro portable audio system for the iPod is a small, good-looking, portable, and efficient sound system from JBL/Harman Multimedia. It is both a mighty compact speaker and an iPod dock; perfect to take along to a party to share your iPod music, and for keeping your iPod charged (it must be plugged into electricity for this). It includes a charger, 3.5-mm stereo mini jack connection, audio cable, and dock adapters for many iPod models. It comes with a soft carrying case, which comfortably holds the iPod, the speakers, and its infrared (IR) remote control. Four alkaline AAA batteries are included, but rechargeable batteries also work fine. It has rear ports for: Audio in, audio out, and USB-in (cable not included).

The design and materials of this product are extremely well-chosen and live up to JBL's high standards. These gorgeous speakers come in red, black, or white, perfectly complementing Apple's elegant iPod designs.

The only controls on the base unit are volume up and down buttons. Press both at the same time for mute. The IR remote controls volume/mute, pause, menu; and song-selection, including playlists, photos, videos and more—but there is no Off button. You have to turn it off manually. When running on battery power it will automatically turn off after being idle for 10 minutes, to conserve batteries.

The audio clarity of these small speakers falls short when the volume is set to maximum. There is a practical limit of about 20 feet, but the sound you do get is very rich. The unit's main value is that it's both an iPod dock and a remote controlled speaker set, combined at a reasonable price.

Though it falls short of greatness because of its tiny twin speakers, it is a good compromise of design, efficiency, portability and affordability.

You will be happy with the new On Stage Micro from JBL, one of the most consistently impressive speaker designers around. Fred Faulkner, Harman Multimedia's vice president of sales and marketing calls it "A huge sound for tight quarters."