# Music alarm clock with my PC

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-alarm-clock-with-my-pc/208304>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 19, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-alarm-clock-with-my-pc/208304 "2003-10-19T03:32:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![criminalcatalog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@criminalcatalog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/criminalcatalog)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-alarm-clock-with-my-pc/208304/1 "2003-10-19T03:32:20Z")

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I’d like to use my PC as my alarm clock in the morning, waking up to songs of my choosing. Does anyone know of a good program for that?

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**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-alarm-clock-with-my-pc/208304/2 "2003-10-19T08:50:37Z")

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I use [this](http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptalarm.asp) program as an alarm clock. Easy to use, and you can play any .wav, .mp3, cd track, ect that you want.

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**Author:** ![LtningBug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/73ab20/32.png) [@LtningBug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LtningBug)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2003, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-alarm-clock-with-my-pc/208304/3 "2003-10-20T00:16:40Z")

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If you are using winamp and windows XP or windows 2000, you can do this already. Go into your control panel, select “Scheduled Tasks”, and add a new task.

In the task, for the Application, select Winamp (you might have to browse for it), then continue to select the appropriate repeat interval, time, etc. At the end, select to open the Advanced Properties and select “Finish”.

In the dialog that just opened up, you’ll see a Run: prompt, which will have the Winamp application command there. Add “/play” (without quotes) to the end of that command. Mine would look somewhat like this:

```auto

C:\PROGRA~1\Winamp\winamp.exe /play

```

Now, this will cause winamp to play the last playlist used. You can change this by adding a playlist or file to use:

```auto

C:\PROGRA~1\Winamp\winamp.exe /play "weeeeee.mp3"

```

If you’re using Winamp3, the /play option won’t do anything, but you can pass the name of a file or playlist to play:

```auto

"C:\Program Files\Winamp3\Studio.exe" "weeeeee.mp3"

```

You can also specify a very complicated schedule by going to the “Schedule” tab. Choosing Weekly allows you to specify which days, which should be nice. You can do all sorts of very complicated things under the ‘schedule’ and ‘settings’ tabs.

However, before relying on this, TEST TEST TEST. I would recommend going at least a week or even more using this alongside your alarm clock to make sure you get all the bugs ironed out.

Also, of course, this requires that you dilligently make sure your computer is set up correctly before you go to bed (volume up, no headphones plugged in, computer on).

If you don’t have winamp, you should be able to use any other media player that supports command line parameters (Windows Media Player 7.x and later don’t, afaict :-().

And beware that if your computer is cranky at all, or even if it isn’t, it might crash overnight.

DISCLAIMER: By following this advice, you explicitly agree to test thouroughly and to use a backup alarm so that in the case of the failure of this system, you do not bring any harm to yourself. You also are agreeing that I have no responsibility if any damages result because of your following my advice.

Not that that isn’t common sense anyway.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![biqu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@biqu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biqu)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-alarm-clock-with-my-pc/208304/4 "2003-10-20T00:36:04Z")

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I have been waking up to a computer based alarm for several years now, using [XMMS](http://www.xmms.org/) with the [Alarm Plugin](http://www.snika.uklinux.net/?show=xmms-alarm).