It's funny how the simple things can make for great conversation and exploration. My previous quest for hot water resulted in a great many ideas from all across the spectrum and I greatly appreciate all of the responses.

Backstory-
My ancient, crappy clock-radio died this week. I'm looking for something to replace it.
It was not a bad clock, having a simple digital display that had a couple of brightness settings, about 1" numbers, a really crappy radio, 8-minute snooze, and no battery backup.
Some of those things are good, some not so good.
I was perusing (literal definition, not the common one) Amazon for replacements and I thought I should upgrade to better sound.
The problem with better sound is that the units rapidly leave good clock features behind.
In the past I've run playlists from Windows Task Manager to fill the house with music during the 'get up and get moving' period of the day, but this isn't quite the 'alarm clock' solution I'm trying for right now.

I thought I'd ask all you clever people how you tackle the art of gaining wakefulness. Please share!

The radio portion of my own ancient clock-radio died years ago, replaced by a strong 60Hz mains hum. The alarm still worked, and we really like the size/shape (a 10cm cube), and the large red LED segmented display.

So I opened it up last week, and replaced all of the old electrolytic capacitors. Good as new again now! [EDIT:]Yes, even the radio works and sounds good again now.[/EDIT]

I might even open it up again, and modify the "backup battery" compartment to accept/charge a very large capacitor, instead of wasting 9V batteries in it.

Nowadays, it mostly serves just as a really-good clock display for us.
My PalmOne Zire72 is the real alarm clock.

Cheers

I love my Bose Wave Radio (with CD) for this purpose. The infrared remote is great for the snoozing, once you get used to hitting the right button. You can frequently place the remote in an easier-to-reach location than the radio, so it's much more comfortable to use than the average clock radio.

If you're the kind of person who loses remotes, probably not the device for you, since the remote is required to operate the device (it doesn't have front panel buttons).

One thing: I had a strange problem with mine when I first got it. Every once in a while the alarm wouldn't go off despite being set correctly. Luckily I was unemployed at the time and therefore wasn't made late for work because of the issue. I had the unit swapped under warranty and haven't run into the problem again on the new unit.

Sound quality is, of course, spectactular for a clock-radio of that size. I've got its aux input hooked up to the Rio Receiver so I can play tunes that way, or it'll play CDs or radio.

I have a 1 year old. Very effective and a time tested solution. When I need to wake at some time other than 6:30, my iPhone suffices.

The price, will of course, make you choke. But I'm glad I bought it. I wanted good music in my bedroom, and it was the perfect solution.

http://www.bose.com/controller?url=/shop_online/wave_systems/wms/index.jsp

Yeah, but what kind of warranty do you get with that? Can you take it back where you bought it if it malfunctions?

I've always been enamored of the Bose Wave, but the lack of buttons and (sound) controls put me off (as did the price). Didn't the first version Wave have buttons on the top? (ah, yep.)
I went looking on CraigsList and found several of the AM/FM as well as CD variety. Reviews on Amazon put me off again, though.
Then I went on a tack of Cambridge Soundworks, Tivoli, and Boston Acoustics. Read a ton of Amazon reviews last night.
Sort of narrowed it down to
Cambridge SoundWorks - SoundWorks Radio 720 with iPod Dock - Onyx
and
iHome iP90 Dual Alarm Clock Radio with AM/FM Presets and Dock for iPod and iPhone (Black)
Neither were completely satisfying, but also not a bad upgrade from crap. I don't own an iPod, though, so the iPod dockiness isn't a requirement. I suppose I could join the rest of the world and get one off CL if I wanted yet another layer of complication.

Yes, but since she sleeps in the same bed as me, that doesn't help when the snooze alarm is broken.

Nice fix, Mark! My situation doesn't deserve the repair effort, though. I could replace the unit easily for $20 (or $5 at most any yard sale ), but thought I'd see what's available as an upgrade.


I use my phone as an alarm clock as well as the clock radio near the bed, so I'm with you on this one.
The display-clock near the bed is an important aspect of what I'm trying to replace, too.

Now I think about it, my Timemaster 1034 LED alarm clock (as it calls itself on the sticker underneath) may be the oldest still-working electric or electronic thing I own -- or at least, the oldest that I've had from new (the Quad hifi and the Mac Plus are second-hand). It's operated continuously for at least the last 20 years, possibly 25. Though nowadays it's only a safety-net: I find I wake up most days half-an-hour before it goes off anyway.

Peter

I've a similar model to Jeff's and would recommend against it. I've found it exceedingly hard to change the wake up time - clearly a design flaw, after all this is a basic function of an alarm clock. The snooze button has never worked, in fact it appears to be hardwired to increase the volume. Initially it would go off at random times, this has mostly stopped, though occasionally it will still do so.

One problem is that people have different ways they wake up. I'm fortunate in that I've never been one to hit the snooze alarm (well, extremely rarely, probably around 50 times in my life). When my alarm goes off, I'm up and I'm off.

For the last 3-4 years, my phone has been my alarm clock. I charge it on my nightstand anyway, so I just set it for what I want when I go to bed. I also like how on Android, when you put your phone in a dock it brings up the clock/weather app, which makes it very easy to set an alarm.

When it comes to the actual alarm, I actually set it to vibrate, and that's enough to wake me up.

I've been using a Logitech Boombox. I wake up with one specific track from my collection, as I like it to be the same every day, for some reason. I can snooze and I do usualy two or three times
Then, I wake up and play some random tracks while I get ready. It works great. If the music server goes down, it plays some built-in tune as a replacement. It is great as a bedroom alarm clock because numbers are big and display brightness adjusts automatically to evironment light strength, so, it never bothers you. It comes with a remote AND with buttons on it, which I use as it is on my side table. Sound quality is extremely good, in my opinion. And it's a lot of fun as a music player in general

I have a projection clock (it shines the time in big numbers on the wall opposite the bed) that I bought about 10 years ago on eBay for maybe $10. I've been fortunate in that for the last 30 years or so my job did not require me to be at work at any specific time, and now I'm retired and I don't have to be anywhere at any specific time. I don't know if the alarm even works, and the sound quality of the radio is bad beyond description so I don't ever use it.

On the rare occasions that I do have an appointment I just tell myself to wake up at a certain time, and I do.

tanstaafl.

I use the alarm on my iPhone to wake me and then once I am a bit more with it I turn the "radio" on (i.e. which ever Squeezebox I happen to be nearest to).

Hmm... Interesting!
There's even an 'internet radio' version of that- an option that I hadn't thought about.

Several different units from Logitech with the 'Pure-fi' name.

Thanks!

I'm using a 20-year-old Sony alarm clock: dual alarms, 1" tall red digits, cheesy radio that I don't use. I just go for the beeping.

I have a new-ish Chumby One, which I use to feed Pandora to my stereo system, which I could just as well use as an alarm clock. It's got a not-unreasonable speaker for an alarm-clock-sized box.

The snooze on my model works just fine. The problem is that it starts at 4:30am, then snoozes 'til 6am, then goes off for a third time at 7am. I haven't figured out how to set the alarm to start at a time other than 4:30am, yet. :-p

Less facetiously, if I really, really have to wake up, I use either my (non-radio) digital alarm clock (which I got from my grandparents), or my wife's cell. In general, I just prefer to wake up when the natural light from outside fills the bedroom. Not always the best solution, though, since our bedroom window faces east, and closing the drapes effectively turns off the alarm. Not to mention the changing seasons make me wake up later and later as winter goes along. I haven't yet tried one of the "dawn simulator" alarm clocks. If any of you have, do they really work?

I've been thinking about buying Squeezebox Radio for about a year now, but still haven't pulled the trigger. Lately, I have very little confidence in Logitech to actually keep the product line going...

Currently I just wake up whenever I wake up. If I need to get my daughter up for daycare I'll get up earlier using a crappy Sony Dreamstation alarm (it was the last Sony product I bought, likely the last I will ever buy).

Tropical birds and Caribbean sea.

If that fails, the 20 month-old model is as dependable as the 12 month-old child.

For those other rare occasions, cell phone alarm with the most annoying ring tone.

I'm hoping for an updated version of the Squeezebox Touch - hopefully with a larger screen and more processing power / memory to overcome the problems it seems to have with playing music from a local hard drive (running tinySC).

I believe the current model will function as an alarm clock.



Considering we no longer appear to be able to get the Transporter or the Squeezebox Boom or Radio here, I am not holding my breath while hoping for a Touch upgrade.

Currently a Chumby at the foot of my bed set to start off with internet radio. That way I have a gentle wake up process, and also ensure more effort then a simple arm movement is needed to hit snooze. Then, my iPhone with an alarm about 15 minutes after the Chumby, to ensure I actually wake up.

I tend to be a very heavy sleeper, and more then willing to abuse the snooze button. So far this setup seems to be working well. When I had the Chumby at my bed side, I found I was hitting snooze without even fully being aware of it.

I'm extremely happy with my Sqeezebox Boom paired with a ReadyNas NV. The boom has great sound quality, and has a soothing familiar VFD display. and the alarm interface is intuitive yet versatile. The whole product feels solid, and has the small touches that show the product team understood their market and fought to make the best product they could. The top is ruberized, with magnetized divot for the remote. When turned off, the power button is illuminated, when you turn it on, all the buttons illuminate. When its off and you press the snooze button, the display flashes when the next alarm is set to go off, or says no alarm if there isn't one. The VFD automatically dims with the ambient light, which is a great feature for something designed to go on a bedside table.

In short, it's my second favorite mp3 playing appliance. I've got a squeezebox duet that I never use, but the Boom gets used most nights and every weekday morning.

Only buy the Squeezebox Radio for use as a radio alarm if you are going to run it against a local install of Squeezebox Server. It simply isn't reliable as a radio alarm when running against Logitech's mysqueezebox.com

They keep trying to fix it, but they aren't there yet...

Just checked the Norwegian Logitech site and it's still listed there. Maybe you've just not been deemed worthy enough to buy them...

I'm also using a Squeezebox Boom as an alarm clock. I'm using it with internet radio instead of local Squeeze serverand it works very well.

Stig

I have a 20 year old alarm clock that has the most annoying buzzer ever invented. I think the radio still works, although I haven't turned it on on purpose in over a decade (my cat turns it on more than I do). Luckily I usually wake up before my alarm, but if that buzz doesn't wake you up right away I doubt anything will. I never had to use the snooze on it because the buzz does such an amazing job of getting the heart rate up. That thing is freakin obnoxious, at any volume.

Also, when they're 15 or so years old, they never go off at all (they just slink downstairs at lunchtime). Technically it's also illegal to throw them out until you've had them for 18 years.

Lots of hidden gotchas with these alarm clocks.

The advantage of my eldest son as alarm clock is that he gets himself up, dressed and fed and also helps my youngest manage the same. My middle daughter seems to have reached her teenage years early and just doesn't do mornings.

I do have an Aurora Cube - which is a crappy replacement for an older cube. The problem with this one is that when the alarm goes off, or the cube is lit, the screen is unreadable. Luckily I usually wake up just before it goes off, and when it beeps once I get up - saves disturbing SWMBO.

I'm a heavy sleeper, and it takes a miracle to get me up early. I have a 20 year old basic clock radio. The radio doesn't work at all, but the buzzer still sounds every morning. I'll have it set for 6:45. In addition I have a TV in my room with an alarm function. Before going to bed I'll turn the volume up nice and loud. It's set to turn on to a local morning news show at 6:35. Lately I've been rolling out of bed at about 7:30. The morning is not my friend.

Back in grad school, I put my alarm clock clear on the other side of the room, tuned to the static between radio channels, with the volume cranked. I quickly became able to get up, reset the alarm, and get back to bed without ever being awake or conscious.

These days, the only way I actually manage to get up is that I've got an external forcing function, namely getting my daughter to school on time. Sleeping in isn't an option any more. Sigh.

Thanks for all the replies!

I, too, am a tough one to get out of bed.
My current regime is three different alarms on my phone and the clock radio on top of that. When the old one died I had a friend calling me, too. (She's a couple time zones away)

I've replaced the old crap with a fancy new one.
Got it $50 cheaper from the clearance/open-box section, so my need for a frugal purchase was satisfied in a weird way.

It arrived yesterday and I spent a while last night fiddling with the controls. It's a very nice radio- easy to tune and gets lots of stations. I only played with FM. Tweaked all the settings how I wanted them but missed the part about actually turning the alarms ON. lol
Hooray for back-up plans!