‘Team-Up Apps!’ is a section I’ll be running every once in a while. In it I’ll briefly discuss two pieces of software that I think work really well together. Generally, it will be for OSX, but I may do a few for Windows apps every now and then (for all your Windows lovers out there!)

So… This week’s Team-Up Apps are:

iWannaSleep

This is a nifty little app that works like a timer for when you want your Mac to perform a particular task after a specified amount of time. You have a choice of putting the computer to sleep, shutting it down, stopping iTunes, or performing an AppleScript to make it do whatever you like. On the right of the screen is the timer; you can rotate the button to specify the amount of time before the action takes place. The best part is this: when you use it with iTunes, instead of just stopping the music suddenly, it will softly fade out, making this the perfect app to use as a sleep timer for when you’re listening to music while falling asleep. I use it every night and it works perfectly. It’s also freeware! Get it from here.

This app works well with…

Alarm Clock 2

It is what the name says; an alarm clock. But it’s an alarm clock with so much more! I will say, I tried a couple of different apps before finally deciding on this one. I chose it for a few reasons. Firstly, I needed an alarm clock that was reliable and that would allow me to wake up how I wanted to wake up - not how it decided I should wake up! It has an ‘easy wake’ feature which slowly increases the volume of the alarm instead of suddenly blasting sound into your eardrums. A feature that I decided was really important was its ability to play music (including playlists) from iTunes, but not playing them IN iTunes. It has its own player. This is because, in the case that iTunes should fail (think deleted song or renamed playlist, etc) the alarm won’t go off, and then you’re pretty much screwed for the day. In other words, it isn’t reliable. So, having its own player means that it doesn’t rely on other apps. Good thinking! You can set a number of different alarms, and can also make them repeat for certain days of the week. The app can wake your Mac up from sleep, and is also compatible with the iTunes remote. It’s freeware! Get it here.