Phillips semiconductors recently brought out a single chip audio
amplifier chip (TDA8551T) that comes in a small 8 pin package and
works of a single 5V supply.  You can use two push buttons to control
the volume directly, or you can use a microcontroller to control the
volume. It can give about 500mW into an 8 ohm speaker. Sounds like a
really nice device for PIC projects, especially considering the price
is only about $2 in small quantities.

The only snag is that I have to buy them quantities of at least 50 at
a time.  Does anybody know of a place that sells these chips in smaller
quantities?  Has anybody on this list used this chip and can
therefore comment on how well it works?   Is the datasheets available
in PDF format somewhere?

Single chip Audio Amplifier with digital volume control - Phillips TDA8551T

Rgds
Werner