Whether you prefer to be woken by the scream of a rock star or the French horn in a classical symphony, your iPod's Alarm Clock or your iPhone can help you open your eyes every morning with style!

Requirements:

• Any iPod or iPhone, except the iPod Shuffle, with firmware 2.1 or later
• iPod and iPod Touch users need an external pair of speakers (preferably, powered speakers)
• Speakers are optional for iPhone users

iPod Users The iPod's Alarm Clock is nestled among other features like Calendar and Notes under the iPod's Extras menu.  While you may already be familiar with many of the iPod Extras (especially Games), the Alarm Clock is largely an under appreciated feature. From the iPod's Main Menu, select Extras > Clock >Alarm Clock Set Time to the desired wake up time Set Sound to one of the playlists on the iPod Turn on Alarm.  An alarm icon resembling a bell with sound waves will appear on the right side of the screen when the Alarm Clock is turned on. Connect a pair of speakers to the headphone jack of the iPod Test the iPod's volume by briefly playing a song Adjust the volume to a level that you can wake up to Go to sleep

iPhone Users

The same procedure that works on the iPod works on the iPhone right? Wrong. For whatever reason Apple only allows you to wake up to their default alarm sounds like Marimba, Alarm, Ascending, Bark, Bell Tower, Boing, Crickets, etc... Why won't Apple let you wake up to your music on your iPhone? Who knows. But there's an easy workaround for this stupid problem.

Click on the images above to zoom in

1. Download a free app called iHome + Sleep from the iTunes Store.
2. Create a new Sleep Card.
3. Click on the gear symbol in the top right for more options.
4. Select iPod Library from the Choose Wakeup Sound.
5. Select a playlist, artist, song or album. We choose the Violent Femmes in the screenshot.
6. Save your card.
7. Make sure that you leave the iHome + Sleep app running before you fall asleep. Otherwise it won't work. As a backup, also set the regular iPhone alarm in the Clock app. That way in case you forget to leave the iHome + Sleep app running or accidentally touch your phone in your sleep, you'll still wakeup on time.

Best Practices

POWER: If you expect your iPod or iPhone to wake you up in the next morning, then it should have sufficient battery power before you go to bed.  Remember, an iPod or iPhone with a dead battery won't turn on. Use an iPod or iPhone AC adapter and sleep with confidence.

DATE & TIME: The iPod should also be correctly set to the current time in order to wake you at the right time.  Double check that the current time is set properly:

• iPod: Select Extras > Clock, Verify Date & Time is set properly
• iPhone: Your time should automatically be set from the nearest cell phone tower.

MAKE A ‘WAKE UP PLAYLIST': Before setting your alarm, create a playlist that contains the song(s) to be played during the wake up alarm.  The iPod's Alarm Clock can only play from a playlist, so you'll have to create a playlist with as little as one song.

Here are some song suggestions to add to your wake up playlist:

Good Morning Beautiful Deftones The Ride of the Valkyries Richard Wagner Welcome to the Jungle Guns N' Roses I Want to Wake Up Pet Shop Boys Wake Up Little Susie The Everly Brothers I Can See Clearly Now Jimmy Cliff

Wake Me Up Wham! Ugly In The Morning Faith No More Wake Up Rage Against The Machine My Morning Song The Black Crowes Wake Up Alanis Morissette Wake The World The Beach Boys

CREATING AN iPOD ON-THE-GO PLAYLIST

If you are away from your computer and unable to make a playlist, you can quickly make an On-the-Go Playlist on your iPod.

1. Scroll to the desired song using the scroll wheel.
   
2. Press and hold the center button until the song name flashes repeatedly. It is now added to On-The-Go playlist.
   
3. Repeat Step #2 to add other songs, artists, or albums to your On-The-Go playlist
   
4. Select Music > Playlists > On-The-Go to view the songs in your Playlist

CONNECTING EXTERNAL SPEAKERS

WARNING!  Although tempting, sleeping with headphones is not a good idea. The possibility of ear damage or strangulation by the wires during sleep makes them a bad alarm speaker choice.  Earbud headphones also have a pesky way of falling out of your ear canal during the night. 

The best solution is a small pair of powered speakers that connect to the iPod or iPhone through the headphone jack.  A pillow speaker is also a good alternative to setting up an additional pair of speakers in your bedroom.

We've done some entertaining in-depth speaker reviews for products like the JBL Encounter (see monkey photo above) and the JBL Creature 2, but here are a few more external speaker suggestions:

Altec Lansing iM3	Logitech MM22
YOUniverse Butterfly Speaker Pillow	Sharper Image Pillow Speaker

While the iPod is capable of producing a faint beeping noise, its built-in speaker is barely audible for the purposes of a wake up alarm.  If you prefer to wake up to a ‘buzzer' sound, you can add several buzzer-type music files to the iPod.

The song or sound to be played during the wake up alarm can also be repeated to simulate a beeping alarm.

Creating a playlist with multiple copies of the same audio track:

1. From within iTunes, select New Playlist from the File menu.
2. Select the desired song and drag it to your wake up playlist
3. Repeat Step #2 until you have enough play time of alarm songs or sound effects

If you would like your wake up playlist to continuously repeat, you need to enable the Repeat option for the iPod's playback settings (Settings > Repeat > On).

As a special bonus to readers of this web site, we have made available a collection of FREE downloadable alarm noises, as compiled by Senior Editor of Surround Sound Magazine, Rich Tozzoli!  Sounds of jackhammers, foghorns, nuclear alerts, and even good old Bronx cheers are available upon request.

These alarm sounds can be downloaded to an iTunes library and added to your wake up playlist.