The ways we play music at home have also changed. We used to worry about having great sound quality with a multitude of speakers in the living room or throughout the house. Now we often listen to our digital music with personal earphone. Yet, we also have a lot of options for playing digital music at home when we want everyone to be able to hear it. A wide variety of devices are now available that are made to accept an iPod or other digital player and play the music through the device's built-in speakers. At a recent trip to the electronics store I saw home speakers for digital music players from Bose, Logitech, iHome, Altec Lansing, Philips, Kensington, Griffin, and many more. These ranged in price from $50 to $300. And obviously you can spend even more, if you choose.

I'll clue you in on a little secret, though. If your stereo or radio has an auxiliary input, you can buy a simple cable with a jack on one end that fits your portable music player and one on the other end that goes to the auxiliary port on the stereo or radio. These jacks are usually standard sizes so you can purchase a cable with the correct ends at the local Radio Shack or electronic store. I use one of these cables to hook my iPod up to my Bose radio. I can also use it on my stereo and it even works on the Sharper Image sound machine that I have. If your stereo or radio has a remote control, it will probably not work with an MP3 player that is hooked up like this. However, having to get up to turn your music player on and off may be a small price to pay considering what you saved over purchasing a dedicated MP3 speaker system.