I am a recovering snooze-aholic (one day at a time..).
Recently I discovered a way to use my (Windows XP) laptop as an alarm clock. I really like it this way because I can listen to exactly what I want to hear in the morning. Usually I set it to 15 minutes before I actually have to get up so I can liste to some music or an audiobook and then get out of bed. Also, no snoozing...
- Create a user with password for your Windows (skip this if you already use a password)
- Make a Winamp playlist that you want to wakeup with (or use another program that you use to play music). I prefer soft music in the beginning and then an audiobook or podcast. Save the playlist and remember where you put it.
- Go to Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Scheduled Tasks>Add Scheduled Task.
- Browse to point the program to your playlist (.m3u or .pls file).
- Set the name for the Scheduled Task
- Schedule the task (for testing set it 5 minutes from now)
- Fill in the username and password
- Then copy these settings
- Now check the volume of your player, you don't want it too loud or too soft.
- Then put your computer in Standby Mode, Start>Turn Off>Standby
- Your computer will start playing the playlist at the selected time.
If your computer is turned off this won't work.
If you want to listen to something else in the morning, change the playlist. You can also add webradio stations, CD's, or just throw everything in there, turn on shuffle and hope that Coldplay instead of Slipknot wakes you
Happy sleeping!