There's a very elegant solution to this. Starting with iTunes version 7, Apple introduced support for multiple iTunes libraries built right into the application. If you hold down the option key while launching iTunes, you'll be prompted with the following dialog box:
The idea here is to create a seperate iTunes library just for the alarm clock application that only contains songs on the internal hard drive. If we click "Create Library..." we can do just this. Just give the library a name:
Now you've got an empty iTunes library. Just add any songs you want that are on your built-in hard drive.
After you do this, you can quit iTunes, and relaunch holding down the option key. Then pick your original library (most likely in ~/Music/iTunes/) and you're back to your regular iTunes library.
The final step is simply to instruct Alarm Clock to use this new library that you just created. Quit the Alarm Clock application. Open up your terminal. And type in the following command:
defaults write com.digitallity.alarmclock2 'XMLPath' '/Users/robbie/Music/iTunes (AlarmClock)/iTunes Library.xml'
Replacing the last part of the command with the proper path on your machine. For more information about this tip, see my FAQ page, question number 9.
28 comments:
Hey, I Love the program but I am having a big problem. It might be a simple thing to work through and need some assistance. When I open a stopwatch and start it the stopwatch minimizes into the desktop and I am unable to open it up. I an using the latest version. Any suggestions?
Hi Anthony,
Thanks for the feedback.
I'm not fully sure what you mean by the window "minimizing into the desktop" but I think you mean that the window flies off the screen somewhere so you can't see it. This happens sometimes when switching screen resolutions. I thought I fixed the problem a while back, but apparently I still have a few tweaks to fix! :)
To fix the problem, all you have to do is delete the alarm clock preferences file. To do this, first quit the alarm clock. Then delete the file ~/Library/Preferences/com.digitallity.alarmclock2.plist. Then relaunch the alarm clock application, and the stopwatch should be displayed properly.
The above technique is the simplest way of solving the problem. However, you will lose your alarms, and all your settings for the application. An alternative is to edit the preferences file, and simply delete the keys "StopwatchWindow" and "StopwatchWindowOriginal". If you have the developer tools installed, this will be a snap. However, you should be able to accomplish this with a regular text editor as well since the file is simply an XML file.
Let me know if you have any problems, or any further questions.
Thanks for this program, it was exactly what I needed!
I do have one problem though where at the end of the track it will start skipping, that is, it sounds like the music is pausing and then playing again very quickly, as if skipping on a cd. When I play the track in itunes it has no problems. Any suggestions?
thanks again for a great program.
This program is the shiz! If you are still actively developing the only suggestion I would have is a simple sleep timer so you could play your tunes off to sleep.
I currently use a combo of your app and iWannaSleep but having it all in a single app would be a nice feature.
Hi Elizabeth,
That's a weird problem I haven't heard before. Does this happen for every song, or just a select few? Also, do you experience the same problem if you play the song in QuickTime?
Thanks for the feature suggestion. A sleep timer is something I've looked into before, and I'm currently considering implementing it in future versions.
The problem happens with any song I play, and it does not happen if I play in itunes or quicktime. I still use the program, it is great, just gets annoying with the skipping at the end.
I like your program, but i want to wake up to NPR, like my old clock radio. How do you get
Alarm Clock to open a live stream?
Thanks
Just recently, my Alarm Clock lost the ability to play music. It won't test the songs, and every alarm becomes the beeps. Ruining my mornings. Is this possibly related to an iTunes update?
I have the same problem as the above poster. Since your programme doesnt' depend on itunes, maybe it's the 10.4.9 update?
Hi, Robbie. I'm having the same trouble as a couple of the other posters here, in that Alarm Clock doesn't play or test the songs I select from iTunes...all I get is the beep. Do I have a setting wrong somewhere?
Thanks!
Hi anonymous,
In reference to your question about getting Alarm Clock to play a live stream:
As I'm sure you're aware, Alarm Clock does not rely on iTunes to play it's music in the morning. This was one of the prime reasons I made the application: I wanted it to be as rock solid and stable as possible. Radio stations are one of those big problems when an application depends on iTunes to play in the morning, because if something happens, you may not wake up. For example, if the radio station started out playing just fine, but then the network stalled shortly thereafter, iTunes may simply stop playing, and you wouldn't wake up. This is a problem that AC wouldn't have, since it does all the playing by itself. However, I've discovered that streaming radio stations is a lot more complicated under the hood than I expected it to be. So this is a feature that I would like to get working someday, but I won't be including it within the application until I'm 100% positive that it would be 100% stable and reliable.
In short: I'm sorry, but Alarm Clock does not currently support streaming radio stations.
To anonymouse, Reneé, and Lemmings_Ridge,
This seems to be a problem that affects specific computers, and seems to be related to a bug in a QuickTime update. I've been contacted by about 5 people so far about the issue, and they all have reported that the issue seemed to disappear after restarting the computer. Please let me know if a system restart doesn't solve the problem for you.
Thanks for your software :) I'm using it for now six month, and is just what I need.
I'm waiting for the sleep timer (I'm using Iwannasleep too).
And a suggestion : could you put in the preferences the option to change the XML path? Terminal isn't frendly...
Hi anonymous,
I considered putting the XML option within the preferences. But over 95% of people would never have a need for it. And also, the option won't be friendly regardless of where I put it. The average user would see an option called "XML Path" and would have no idea what it meant. So then I'd have to include a little description explaining what it is, and I don't know if I could fully explain it in a few words. So I figured, since it's an expert option, I would leave it to the experts (you guys who read this blog, read my FAQ's, or exchange emails with me) to do it manually. What do you think?
Ok. First off thank you for making this application (and especially making it freeware.) I used to run a 17" IMac G5 with alarm clock on it, and it ran seamlessly. I had a bug once but the next update fixed it. I just upgraded to a 20" IMac Dual Core pentium, and now its not working. I downloaded the latest version, but it doesn't play music. I ask it to preview the music, and it doesn't work. I do an alarm, and it says "starting alarm" then goes away and makes no sound. I saw the earlier posts that looked similar to this problem, but your suggestion of a reboot did me no good. Shut down and started up the whole computer. I have all the latest software updates, but yet it still doesn't work. If you could help at all that would be great because I use this alarm clock to get up for school. Thanks.
Hi, Robbie
First of all, thank you for continued development of this application.
I would like to know if there is a way to set the alarm to play the latest podcast episode downloaded by iTunes? If not, do you plan on implementing this feature?
I am pretty sure I can set this up through Apple Script, but would prefer a neater solution.
I'm doing everything that you say to fix my "empty itunes library" in alarm clock, but it's not working! i copied the terminal command, put in my own library (on my external).. and no change! help! i want to keep using this program!
Hi, just learned about your app today and it's great. One of those tools that does what it does just right.
I have just one feature request. When I Setup a new alarm I have to change the alarm sound to my favorite playlist all the time. Could you integrate a default playlist in the preferences dialog to choose the default alarm sound.
That would be awsome. It is already, but ... you know ;)
Thanks for this buddy.
It is rare to get exactly what you are looking for.
Hi.
I had a problem for ages where although the XMLPath appeared to be set correctly the alarm would display an empty library.
Finally fixed it by simply deleting the .plist file then changing XMLPath again, I guess a random setting must have been messing it up.
I just discovered you Alarm Clock and love it as I am a very auditory person.
I use it during the day to remind myself/kids to call certain people or do certain tasks ( different people/tasks have different music). Good resource for people with ADD!
I have a question. I would like to be able to record my own voice, i.e. speaking/singing so I could remind my self of specific tasks and appts....is it possible to do something like that?
I have a 2006 Mac, so I use the older version.
Keep up the good work. It is appreciated! Thank you!
looks like a good postings ... nice blog .
This is a first rate program. Thanks so much for the helpful tipson the alarm clock.
Stuart
Thanks for the programm. Let's try it!
Hey thanks for the tips! I often wake up late and your advice is very handy for me to be punctual on my work.
WakingNews Alarm Clock app
WakingNews Alarm Clock is yet another beta app release with some potential. It functions primarily as an alarm clock. You set an alarm as usual and it goes off on time as usual. However, this one reads you the news from a variety of sources when it goes off. So it functions a little bit like old school radio alarm clocks. It has several good news sources, including Yahoo Finances, Yahoo Sports, Engadget, etc. However, there are some lesser sources of words there as well. Thankfully, you can choose the sources that play when the alarm goes off. It's in beta so there are definitely bugs. It is also free and has potential.
WakingNews Alarm Clock app
WakingNews Alarm Clock is yet another beta app release with some potential. It functions primarily as an alarm clock. You set an alarm as usual and it goes off on time as usual. However, this one reads you the news from a variety of sources when it goes off. So it functions a little bit like old school radio alarm clocks. It has several good news sources, including Yahoo Finances, Yahoo Sports, Engadget, etc. However, there are some lesser sources of words there as well. Thankfully, you can choose the sources that play when the alarm goes off. It's in beta so there are definitely bugs. It is also free and has potential.
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