Great post. I hear CD quality music when I'm in stage 1, falling asleep and waking up in the morning, but as soon as I listen to it I wake up and forget most of it, except a snipet of melody.
I used to find waking up pure evil, like I'd been drugged and kicked about but recently I realised that I can lay in bed and meditate for 5-10 minutes after I wake up and feel pretty good even after say, 5 hrs sleep, but I've only done it a few times in an emergency.
Also, if I try to meditate I fall asleep straight away unless I'm drunk, in which case I can meditate my self sober in 1 hr. I did it at parties many years ago when I accidentally got too drunk, the way young people tend to. People used to be amazed because I'd speak to them normally when an hr before I couldn't speak or even walk, sometimes.