I am sorry for all of those folks who bought these expecting loud/amplified sound that would be able to cut through a lot of background noise, because these speakers will not do that. However,they do work very nicely for my tiny little mp3 player, and when I had my old walkman hooked up at my workstation/office at my job. The sound quality is decent, and at maximum volume on the walkman/cd player/mp3 player that I am using, these little speakers keep my happy, and do not rattle the folks next door. I have had these for about 6 years now, and now for 2-5 bucks, these are worth a shot. I paid 15 originally because they were new. They do not owe me a thing. A strong plus is that they are durable. I have found this out because I am clumsy, and so are folks that put stuff on my workspace. These have fallen from 12 inches from shelf to desk sever dozen times, not a problem. I hope you don't give up on these little speakers because some folks have put them to use with to high of expectations.