An alarm that actually WORKS! also, How do you make mp3's?

[Forrest]

Greetings people. I am here to tell you that I actually have an alarm that WORKS! I couldn't use a regular alarm because of other people in my house, and I couldn't use iPod earbuds because they never stay in my ears. I finally got around to locating a pair of behind-the-head headphones, and I can wear them even sleeping on my side, so last night it actually worked and I woke up to the sound of "The Entertainer". I was groggy through most of the song, I don't remember if I was half-awake and confused or actually dreaming. I want to buy some of those individual-ear earbuds that actualy wrap around my ears. That way I wouldn't be sleeping on one of my ears semi-uncomfortably like I do with my current headphones. I can only sleep when on my side. Anyways, amusing side-note. I only set my Entertainer-alarm for about 4 hours after I went to bed. I say I may have been half asleep because recently I have been waking up in a confused state and doing strange things. In the past few weeks I have ripped my sheets up 3 times, LOL. I need to turn on the AC at night. Or maybe just get some air circulating somehow. So! Now I have an actual method to wake myself up. The question is: How to make mp3's. I plan to make a 5-minute-or-so mp3 that just says "you're dreaming" followed by 5 minutes of silence. I'll set my iPod alarm as a playlist containing that song like 8 times in a row. So if anyone has the answer to how to make mp3's that would be greatly appreciated. By the way, I have a computer microphone, so I'm covered there. edit: Gah, dammit! I should have put this in "general lucid discussion". Oh well.

[Vortex]

Great work Forest, I've spent ages looking for any type of earphone that can comfortably be worn while sleeping. Can you post the source of any you find that are good? Thanks.

[Licity]

The only way I know to make an mp3 is to use some kind of program to make a .wav file, and use a converter to switch it to .mp3. I could be completely off here, but I know that mp3 is a file format that usually costs money to manipulate.