Can you turn the backlight totally off?

A couple of others worth considering: -

iHome - you cannot turn the backlight off and the top buttons glow orange. Soyou have a blue room with an orange celing

JBL OnTime - required a downgrade to the iPod firmware otherwise it would only ever play the first track in the library - tested this at around Christmas so the may have fixed it by now. Sounded good.

The iLuv was the only one I could find that you could turn the backlight totally off and played where you left off on the iPod. Its around the same price and works well. Seemed a bit more solid than the iHome.

But I listen to NPR's Morning Edition when I "wake up". And by the time I'm out of the shower, Market Place Morning is just about to come on. Weekends, it's the dogs that "wake" me. Toby wants out at 7, at which time I feed him. Then crawl back in bed. So the iPod alarm clock does nothing for me.

BTW, I have a first gen iPod who's battery is now good for about 3 hours. Should I replace the battery or just pop for an 80GB video iPod, given that I'll never watch any video on it?

Hi, I like to listen to music in bed (without waking my wife) is there a stereo output as well?

"Other functions offered via this remote control include the oh-so-crucial Snooze function..."

A remote control for the snooze button? Anyone who buys this thing will never get out of bed again!

That's just so last hour. Should be iPhone compatible...

there's no better deterrent from reaching for that snooze button than the risk you might stick your fingers into a cup of boiling liquid by mistake...

I thought your Metallica comment was brilliant, it cheered me.

to wake up in the morning, including hiding the alarm clock (a pretty loud one I found) inside the wardrobe. No use, I get up, hit the damn snooze button, and crawl back...

...and then I found out my cell phone has an alarm function, with the same sort of whiney screamin' noise used when someone is calling, so you never know if someone is calling actually, or you should get your rotten carcass under the shower, until you pay attention to it.

When you find out, you're already up. Totally annoyed, but up.

An alarm clock should have no snooze button, a non-removable battery (hello iPhone), no off switch, the most annoying and loud buzz found on this planet, and be pretty much destruction-proof. You will be damned to wake up, or go deaf, no matter how far you kick, or pitch it.

Hmm, perhaps some Heavy-Metal in the morning might work for some people, but what about:

- Russian National Anthem... (hey, it begins pretty loud, my Dad loves it)...

- Luciano Pavarotti... (some 80's recordings were amazing)...

or some incidental sound can also work (from sound FX studios), such as...

- a heart-attacking car horn and screechin' tires (that is sure to wake up anyone)...

- a F-16 supersonic low altitude fly-by...

- a pre-recorded heart beat on the largest set of subwoofers you can find... (that can throw you out of bed by itself...)

- the Matrix shootout... (pick one)...