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Provides: Portable speakers for your iPod, iPhone, or laptop.
Developer: ChillPill Audio
Requirements: Any personal mp3 or CD player, or iPod, laptop or anything with a standard 1/8" plug.
Retail Price: $49.99

I'm sorry, but these suckers are cute. Arriving in a pill-like form, the Chill Pill Audio Speakers are small, easily portable speakers that can plug into any device with a standard 1/8" plug. They give good (not great) sound, but considering their size, it's completely adequate. So, when you are traveling and want to listen to your music or Podcasts without having to limit yourself to buds or headphones, plug your Chill Pill into your iPod and you will be satisfied.

Measuring about 3-3/4" in total length, 2" in diameter, and weighing in at 5-1/4 oz., the two speakers halves are held together by magnets in the base. The Chill Pill ships with a cloth bag and a special USB cord to plug the Chill Pill into any USB port for charging (you can even use your AC charging unit with the USB outlet you use for charging your iPod).

As shown below, the base of the Chill Pill has three small rubber feet that interlock into three small depressions in the opposite base when inserted together. A magnet holds both halves together.

Each half of the Chill Pill has its own retractable cord (each of which pulls out to 18"). The one with the volume control (below, on the right) has the 1/8" plug that goes into your sound device. The one with the blue light (below, on the left) has a mini-USB plug that fits into the other Chill Pill to connect them for stereo. Also on the left-side Chill Pill is an off-on switch (opposite side of the blue light). That bright blue light does double duty to remind you that the Chill Pill is on and needs to be turned off. The lithium ion battery provides about six hours of playing time. If you forget to turn it off, I'm going to guess that the Chill Pill's sitting around time is also about 6 hours.

If you need to charge your battery while wanting to continue listening to your music, no problem. As shown in the inset on the first image, the USB power plug-in has a pass-through mini-plug. That means you can plug the standard USB into your laptop (or whatever), plug the small end into your Chill Pill, and then, plug the mini-USB plug from blue-light side of the Chill Pill. [You still need to plug the 1/8" plug into the sound-source as the Chill Pill cannot use the USB for sound connection.] When you plug the Chill Pill into a power source, the blue light appears red. The light turns blue to show you that the battery is recharged.

Lastly, as seen in the image above, if you rotate the top of each just a smidgen, the top pops out, expanding each speakers total height about 5/8". This helps the limited bass be a bit bassier and increases the fullness of the sound a bit. This is probably the Chill Pill's biggest limitation: physics. Do not expect a good hip-hop bass to come out of the Chill Pill. It has good sound, no mistake about that, but physics says you can't get big things out of small packages, and nothing has changed here. You can crank up the sound quite a bit before you start to get distortion, but do not expect to play dance music for a room full of people. On the other hand, you could easily keep your roommate awake if that's your desire.

In use, I found the Chill Pill easy to set up with the one exception; it was a bit difficult to pull the little tags that are attached to the extendable cords the first time. Instinctively I do not like to use a lot of force, and the pulling required more force than I wanted, especially since I wasn't sure I was pulling the right side or the right direction. Once I understood what was being pulled and what was happening, I found it easier to pull. After several uses, things loosened up a bit so there were no future concerns.

Simply put, considering its size, the Chill Pill sounds great. I am trying to not set expectations too high because this review probably sounds better than it should. There's no doubt that despite the "expanded top" feature for a fuller sound, the bass is not extensive. On the other hand, these speakers do not sound tinny.

In short, I can easily recommend the Chill Pill for traveling or for times when you do not want to carry around something larger. While the sound is certainly not as full as speakers costing 3-5 times as much, you are not likely to find anything as good at this size or the price. I've yet to be in any motel room where the provided AM/FM radio could get any station I wanted. Now, I can listen to my iPod and listen to the music that I want.

Applelinks Rating:

Buy the Chill Pill Mobile Speakers

___________ Gary Coyne has been a scientific glassblower for over 30 years. He's been using Macs since 1985 (his first was a fat Mac) and has been writing reviews of Mac software and hardware since 1995.