Altec Lansing Octiv Stage MP450 30-Pin iPad Speaker Dock

I bought this as a Christmas gift for my girlfriend. She has an iPad 2, and I thought a speaker dock would be a nice accessory for viewing movies/TV shows, listening to music, and charging her iPad when she is at my house. This dock does all of that, and it does it well. I looked into some more expensive models, but one thing I knew I wanted was the ability to rotate to landscape mode. It's a really convenient feature, since we'd be watching movies on the iPad occasionally and some of the games we play together require the iPad to be in landscape mode.The Altec Lansing has very nice sound. It's not a speaker that's going to play music for your house party, but it more than fills a room with sound. The quality is crisp and clear, sounds just like my flatscreen TV, and it gets plenty loud to play music over the sound of a vacuum or dishwashing. The upgrade over the iPad sound is amazing. The iPad docks easily with the unit, the shipment includes a rubber piece that fits over the arm to hold your iPad snugly and securely. We had a bit of trouble docking the iPad with her cover on, because the flap that covers the screen is too bulky when folded behind the iPad. It does work if you leave the fold hanging out to the side, if that makes sense.I was weary of some of the reviews that complained about the plastic arm or clip breaking. To me, the arm seems secure and well-built. I can't see it breaking unless I dropped the unit awkwardly on the floor or really applied a lot of force while rotating the iPad. Treat it like you would any electronic device (assuming you're not the type to break your iPhone several times a year dropping it on the pavement) and it will work for you. The arm swivels forward and back 90 degrees to hold your iPad in any tilted position you choose, in addition to the rotation between landscape and portrait modes.The base itself is sturdy but not too heavy, and is not so large that it takes up a lot of space. Looks appropriate sitting on my bedside table when not in use. And don't be afraid to pick it up and use it (we prop it up on a lapdesk while laying in bed and it works great).The only complaint I can think of is the remote. The volume buttons are the only ones that work with all aplications. You can pause a video you're playing on youtube, but the other functions won't necessarily work. Limited functionality with a program like pandora as well. But this is a minor complaint for the way we're using it - it's probably easier to do all of this without the remote if you're close by anyway.For the money (I paid less that $50 with Amazon) you can't beat this little speaker dock. Crisp, loud sound, sturdy holder for the iPad, and a good place to dock your iPad for overnight charging. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for these things. Don't expect Bose quality surround sound, and you won't be disappointed.

There are some bad reviews on Amazon for this product, so I almost didn't order it. Now that I have used it for a week I am delighted.Firstly, this is heavily discounted because it is made for the original iPad, NOT the newer 2, 3 or 4. HOWEVER, my unit came with a rubber "flange" that attaches to the iPad tray on this product and work with ipad 2 and 3. Not perfect but better than the reviews on here would imply. Nobody else mentions this rubber piece and there are no instructions for installing it or even to say what it is for. I installed it and mounted my iPad 2 on the unit quite well.Sound is pretty good, not hi-fi but overall very listenable. I have always respected Altec-Lansing portable speakers and these sound quite good. The external wall-wart power supply powers the unit AND of course charges the iPad when installed.So why did I buy this, especially for an obsolete iPad? Well, I'm an iPad developer and I just wrote a custom music player app for the visually impaired. My father in law has bad macular degeneration and I wanted to give him my iPad 1 as a dedicated music player, ginormous fonts, all gesture operation etc etc. For this purpose this unit is ideal. I know he will love it, the tray tilts for convenient access and also rotates to horizontal or landscape for using the iPad. I would NOT recommend a lot of mounting/unmounting of the iPad, it takes some manual dexterity and the tray is plastic and does feel a little flimsy.In keeping with that last point (not wanting to undock a lot) I wish the unit offered a dock passthru so that I could update the software and the music library without unmounting but it's not available and is not a deal-breaker.The product is a definite value for money, especially at the current discounted price. I may buy another for myself as my grandkids love it and I am not afraid of a 4 year old dropping my iPad.