Measuring about 7 inches in circumference and 2 inches high, the sleek, ice-white JBL On Stage II looks a bit like a flying saucer designed in Cupertino. A gray speaker grille encircles the On Stage, with a 3-inch notch carved out for your iPod--it literally sets the iPod up on a soundstage. Turn the device around, and you'll find a power button, an AC power port, a line-in plug, and an iPod connector, while underneath are three wide rubber feet that give the On Stage a firm grip on a tabletop. While the On Stage is certainly more portable than, say, the Bose SoundDock, it's no lightweight, tipping the scales at 17 ounces, plus a whopping 18 ounces for the AC adapter--and no, it doesn't accept batteries.
The JBL On Stage II comes with a set of four adapters covering just about every iPod model with a dock connector, ranging from the 10GB monochrome model to the 60GB color iPod, while adapters for the latest round of iPods--including the 30GB and the 60GB iPods with video, as well as the 2GB and the 4GB Nanos--are free to order from JBL's Web site. (The iPod Shuffle, which has a USB port instead of a dock connector, won't work directly with the On Stage at all.) If you have a first-generation iPod or another music player altogether, you can always use the included line-in cable, which plugs into any standard stereo minijack.
