I've always been a little depressed by my iBooks' tiny speakers. They really don't get very loud. Good enough to listen to music in a quiet office, but not even quite loud enough to support a good Skype conversation in a simliar context. When I've read the iBook speakers slammed in reviews, I thought I understood.

I didn't. I just heard someone watching a South Park clip off of YouTube last night on a 15" AlBook. Wow. Those were real speakers, as in you could give "filling the room" a shot.

Why in the world are the ones in the iBook so much sorrier? To preserve battery life by ensuring noone even has the facilities to burn through the power?

In any event, if you have the iBook and haven't heard the others, well, it may be much worse than you thought!