I am a bellydancer and bought this to use at outdoor events and anywhere else I need my own sound system.
This thing rocks. Upon opening it and testing it, I actually could not turn it up all the way because it was too loud for my ears.
It has an iPod dock on top, with controls to play, pause and advance the iPod. It is a little tricky to get the iPod into the dock because there is a spring loaded cover which I assume it to keep the area clean. With a smaller iPod (mine is a last generation nano, so current gen will be way to small), you will need to use the input cable into one of the ports. I also use this cable with a discman (yes, they still make them) to play cds. It also has a port for a guitar and 2 microphones. It comes with a wireless mic which I have used and think is awesome.
The best part, is that it has a chargeable battery so you can take it to outdoor events where there is not outlet and run it off the battery.
At my last show, my husband did the sound using our iPad connected to this. While it was a smaller show, we had plenty of volume for both the music and introduction. I give it 5 stars.