Awaken digital alarm clock utilizes iTunes

Dear Eric, can you share with us the cron tab command for waking up the computer? is it just 'wake'? thanks a lot kolydart

Aha! I figured it out. Using a cron job with user set to system (I used Cronnix to make it easier) I called an applescript that opened an iTunes playlist. That makes iTunes open up behind the login window, which is pretty cool.

All these apps and methods are great, but they only work if you are actually logged in to your account. I don't like to leave my computer on (even if it's asleep) at night, and for security reasons I can't have it auto-logon when it turns on. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out how to get an alarm to sound from the login screen...any ideas?

I don't want to take away from your steam, but some users may prefer the simplicity of my own (free) app, iWake that provides basically the same feature set, but is aimed to be run right before you decide to sleep, rather than mucking around with scheduling when to wake up next tuesday. It also allows the user to decide how long to play music before fading to sleep, or to simply leave the computer awake. http://lenin.net/~seth/iWake/ Only runs on Tiger for now. Could run on Panther, but it is FREE and I don't have enough time.

A friend (who runs windows) wanted a program like this, so I wrote one: http://ita.progoth.com If you run windows and have a need for something like this, give it a try, I haven't found any others that I like better...and it's Free.

I use my ipod as an alarm clock and I use the sleep timer to listen to quiet music before I go to sleep. It's under extras. If you have an ipod you don't need applescript or anything else. I have my ipod hooked up to my stereo. You don't have an ipod? Another reason to get one.

I open iCal, set it to open an mp3 file at a specific time, leave ical and itunes open and it works fine. this app is kind of useless.

Hey guys - it was great reading your comments on Awaken. Just to clarify the core differences between Awaken and AppleScript. Awaken actually uses embedded AppleScript for everything that AppleScript can take care of (tell iTunes to play this playlist, get information on the currently playing song). With Awaken anyone can create an alarm in just a couple of clicks. It handles wake/sleep notifications allowing it to wake the computer before alarm time, sleep timer and other things that are not possible with AppleScript. The complete feature list is on the website. Try out the 14-day trial :) Cheers, Jerry

I made an iCal plugin with Automator set to play my Wake Up playlist. The great part about this is that it will open iTunes if it is closed, and because I put my work schedule in iCal, it goes off 30 min before I have to leave for work in the morning only on the days I have work.

PowerController is also very nice, and runs from a menu icon.