Try The Digital Alarm Clock For Your Mac That Awakens You To iTunes (sometimes)

When it comes to timers, alarms, and alerts, Mac users have plenty of choice that range from free to inexpensive.

A few of the more pricey alarm clock apps have more features to justify the increase in price from the pedestrian variety. Whether alarms, alarm clocks, or reminder apps are free or not, they should all have one thing in common. An alarm that works.

What Time Is It Really?

As a bona fide Mac user since the last century, I’ve collected more than my fair share of alarm clock, alert, and reminder apps. They’re all a bit different in feature set.

The single most important and highly expected function of an alarm clock app is what?

That it play the alarm you set. Take Awaken. Please. This handy Mac app has more features than most, including integration to iTunes.

Yes, dear slumber head, Awaken can use iTunes to let you fall asleep gently to the music that doesn’t rock your world, and it can use iTunes to wake you up gently as well– gradually fading out or fading in music, respectively.

The features are extensive in Awaken. Create multiple alarms. Customize the snooze button. Launch an app at the alarm time.

Setup and configuration is typical Mac-like. Easy. And almost fun.

Setup alarms, assign an action to the alarm, including music from iTunes. Have multiple alarms for different days of the week.

Better than almost anything except and alarm that actually goes off at the requested time, Awaken gives you integration to iTunes.

Set it up and iTunes launches to awaken you on schedule, complete with cover art, the time, a Stop Timer button (but no weather).

All of this is good, right?

It is. Timers can be set up in multiples and easily saved and selectable.

Use the Apple Remote to control volume or change tracks in iTunes, or, as a snooze or stop alarm control.

The only problem I’ve run into with Awaken is that sometimes, not in a pattern, and when least expected, the alarm doesn’t go off.

This has happened more than a few times, and a check with other Mac App Store purchasers reveals a similar issue.

Any Mac alarm clock, regardless of the feature set or colorful graphics, needs one functionality more than any other. An alarm that works.

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