I've got an earlier Squeezebox, which I like a lot. The GUI isn't as nice as the EMPEG, but there's clearly an attention to detail worthy of appreciation.

As an alarm clock, probably the number one issue is the lack of a snooze bar. By the time you've fumbled for the remote control and figured out how to scroll through the menus to cancel the thing, well, you're probably awake. Maybe that's a good thing.