Welcome to bewilderment!

This is a riddle game. I was inspired to create my own riddle after completing notpron: "The Hardest Riddle on the Internet" and being disappointed by another riddle I played which was nowhere near as fun as notpron was. I hope you enjoy being bewildered and amused. There are a few rules and objectives...
1) The object is to get to the next level.
2) Do anything you can (besides cheating of course) to get to the next level.
3) This riddle is still in a bit of a testing phase so if you notice any strange things, errors, mistakes, and omissions, etc. please contact me.
4) Occassionally you need to type in a username and password, do not expect that both the username and password will necessarily be in the same place but it should be obvious whether or not you have half or the full answer.
5) You may need software like Photoshop or GIMP and sound recorder/audio player. I do not note on any level with any standardized mark like "download x tools here so you can solve the level" that use of any external application. In the future I may note the first time any of this software will be employed for first time riddlers.
6) However, if google or external information beyond what is "common knowledge" would be required to solve the level at some point, a link to search google will be provided below the level picture to denote this.
7) Username and password levels will usually only have 1 word, no spaces/punctuation answers. Level 8c is an exception but the format of the answer makes logical sense.

Please click the start link to begin!
Onward to level 1