IMHO, Bose has been the finest purveyor of audio delivery in the land for over 40 years. Ipod, eh, not so much.

I have a JBL On Tour that sounds pretty good. Despite what the review says, I've been able to get very good bass response for it's size. Cheapish, portable and you can plug it into any MP3 player or laptop.

A friend ask me my opinion on this a month or so ago, and I did a little research. Everything I read pointed to Bose. Macworld rated the Bose best too (may 2006?), if I recall correctly.

Lots of people (snooty audiophiles, but still) really strongly dislike Bose, and I find their marketing practices rather unappealing. And, while I haven't heard the Apple HiFi, I haven't heard great things about its sound, or its price/value ratio, either. Nonetheless, neither one's bad to look at, if that's important to you.

I like the Tivoli PAL.

Alternately, if aesthetics aren't important, I'd pick up a pair of small monitor speakers and one of those silly Sonic Impact T-amps.

And here's some advice that I hope won't be controversial: preferences are subjective, and there's no sense in buying more than you need, and there's no substitute for doing your own listening tests. If at all possible, find a place that will let you demo the stuff you're considering buying.

Neither, go buy a used stero from Craigslist or something. There's no replacing real stereo separation and there's no replacing real bass.

Wired recommend the Altec Lansing IM9