diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index cac8b7d..f616812 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ categories = ["date-and-time"]
 [features]
 default = ["desktop", "sound"]
 desktop = ["dep:notify-rust"]
-sound = ["dep:rodio", "desktop"]
+sound = ["dep:rodio"]
 
 
 [dependencies]
@@ -25,5 +25,7 @@ humantime = "2.1.0"
 libpt = { version = "0.6.0", features = ["cli"] }
 notify-rust = { version = "4.11.0", optional = true }
 ratatui = "0.27.0"
-rodio = { version = "0.19.0", optional = true }
+rodio = { version = "0.19.0", optional = true, default-features = false, features = [
+	"mp3",
+] }
 tui-big-text = "0.4.5"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9bc9bf1..6f6c313 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -28,6 +28,6 @@ and sound alerts for countdown mode. (Use `cargo build -r --no-default-features`
 
 ## Acknoledgements
 
-The included alarm sound is from pixabay, royalty free:
+The included alarm sound is from [freesound.org](https://freesound.org):
 
--> ["Alarm Clock 1"](https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=105903)
+-> ["effect_notify.wav" by ricemaster (CC-0)](https://freesound.org/people/ricemaster/sounds/278142/)
diff --git a/data/media/278142__ricemaster__effect_notify.wav b/data/media/278142__ricemaster__effect_notify.wav
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..a396dcd
Binary files /dev/null and b/data/media/278142__ricemaster__effect_notify.wav differ
diff --git a/data/media/alarm.mp3 b/data/media/alarm.mp3
index 26d6c33..eeabdfc 100755
Binary files a/data/media/alarm.mp3 and b/data/media/alarm.mp3 differ
diff --git a/src/clock.rs b/src/clock.rs
index 194c30b..a3c59bc 100644
--- a/src/clock.rs
+++ b/src/clock.rs
@@ -77,6 +77,9 @@ pub struct Clock {
     /// Precision: only to seconds
     #[clap(short = 'u', long, value_parser = humantime::parse_duration)]
     pub countdown: Option<std::time::Duration>,
+    /// Play a notification sound when the countdown is up
+    #[clap(short, long)]
+    pub sound: bool,
 
     // internal variables
     #[clap(skip)]
@@ -406,19 +409,26 @@ impl Clock {
     fn notify(&mut self) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         Self::beep()?;
         #[cfg(feature = "sound")]
-        {
-            trace!("playing bundled sound");
-            use rodio::{source::Source, Decoder, OutputStream};
+        if self.sound {
+            std::thread::spawn(|| {
+                use rodio::{Decoder, OutputStream, Sink};
+                // only 30 KiB, so let's just include it in the binary and not worry about reading it
+                // from the fs and somehow making the file be there
+                const SOUND_RAW: &[u8] = include_bytes!("../data/media/alarm.mp3");
 
-            // only 30 KiB, so let's just include it in the binary and not worry about reading it
-            // from the fs and somehow making the file be there
-            let sound: Cursor<_> = std::io::Cursor::new(include_bytes!("../data/media/alarm.mp3"));
+                trace!("playing bundled sound");
 
-            // Get an output stream handle to the default physical sound device
-            let (_stream, stream_handle) = OutputStream::try_default().unwrap();
-            let source = Decoder::new(sound).expect("could not load the included sound");
-            stream_handle.play_raw(source.convert_samples())?; // the sound plays in another thread
-            debug!("played bundled sound");
+                let sound_data: Cursor<_> = std::io::Cursor::new(SOUND_RAW);
+
+                let (_stream, stream_handle) = OutputStream::try_default().unwrap();
+                let sink = Sink::try_new(&stream_handle).unwrap();
+                sink.append(
+                    Decoder::new(sound_data).expect("could not decode the bundled alarm sound"),
+                );
+                sink.sleep_until_end();
+
+                debug!("played bundled sound");
+            });
         }
         #[cfg(feature = "desktop")]
         {