Altec Lansing Orbit-MP3 iM207

Pros: Please see at bottom

Cons: Please see at bottom

Summary: Pros(not enough space to write on top)
I might have not had much experience with portable speakers. But judging by the sound to size ratio, this speakers does have loudness
-Clear: I've had these other portable speakers before. At loud levels, my older speakers had the type of hissing sound, It''s hard to describe. The Orbit, on the other hand, handles the sound well, even at high volume levels.
-I personally like the symbol of the altec lansing logo embedded on the top of the speaker. It gives a sense of style.
-It's simple to set up and even easier to operate. I mean, there's only one switch!

Cons
The ring power switch-It is kind of wierd. I would prefer if it was just a simple switch. Maybe they were trying to be unique or something.
The 3.5mm audio connector- I would prefer if it would be gold-plated, even if I had to pay a bit more. Without the gold-plated connector, the life span and quality of this speaker is reduced greatly. From my experience, non gold-plated connectors rust(I'm not really sure what is the stuff that forms on the ordinary connectors) and the connection is significantly affected
-A case would be nice, and ac power too. But these things might bring the price of the speakers up. Many people might not accept this, as I see price is important in many people's mind. It's hard to get everything you expect from a product if you complain about the price. Many people here don't seem to understand that

I have searched everywhere for portable speakers that suited my requirments. I wanted something that was easy to carry around, simple to use, has loud clear sound, and limited wire tangle.
I did try 2 other speakers. One of them was a passive sony speakers. They were great for indoors only. In the outdoors, it cannnot deliver. Another con was that it was heavy. I think it is even heavier than the Orbit
Another portable speaker I had is the cylinder shaped one from ArtDio. That was just horrible. Although there was the option of using batteries or ac power, the sound was unbearable. My 320kbps songs sounded like 64kbps, or whatever is the worse sound quality avaible. It was cheap in sound but not in price, biased towards ipods (the dock could only fit ipods), and nothing related to the word portable.
Now one of the reasons why I demand loud clear sound is because I travel to different places alot and do many outdoor activities. From time to time, it is nice to share music or watch movies with friends. In the outdoor environment, there aren't many walls to rebound all the sound into your ears. In addition, with boat motors, and random people talking beside you, it's not easy to hear clearly what the artist is singing about, or what an actor is trying to express in a movie. I constanly get annoyed because of this.
I didn't knwo that you could get this speaker at such a cheap price at first. I bought it at Wal-Mart for 40$. I know I am ripped off, but it doesn't matter. I didn't even regret, I was surprised speakers this small can make such loud clear sound. I guess it was because my other 2 speakers were cr@p. Now I take this with me when I hike in the mornings. At least I can listen to something else other than the radio.
To conclude, I would like to say that most of the improvements that could be done on this Orbit speaker is already shown on the new one, as I can see. I just hope that the quality of the sound is not sacrificed on the new smaller model.