Tuesday, December 2, 2008

What Makes Ringtones Fun?

By Gray Rollins

Ring tones are different between landlines and cell phones. The standard ring tone for a landline is a familiar sound, brrrrrrring. You've heard it in the movies and if your grandparents are keepers of the comfortable landline, they hear it every time you call them.

Cell phone ring tones are one of the most common way to personalize one's cell phone. A lot of cell phones on the market already have several different ringtones loaded out of the box. There are quite a few people who never get around to changing this ring tone and just stick with the default.

Cell phones have a few types of ring tones to choose from. Some are monophonic which means that one note is played at a time, no frills, just a ring tone that alerts you that you have an incoming call. Another type of ring tone for a cell phone is called polyphonic; several notes are played as a musical run. The most popular is the true tone; this ring tone is often taken from a MP3 or WMA music file, usually lasting about 15 seconds and mostly taken from the chorus of a song or the most memorable part. The best part about a true ring tone is you can customize a different ring tone to each caller.

Promotions to sell ring tones are all over the place, super size it, get a free ring tone, add your name to an e-mail list, get a free ring tone, read this article and respond, get a free ring tone, kidding about that last one. Since ring tones are generally just a snippet of a song, charging $0.99 cents for one is an affordable bargain. If your phone has a recordable option, you can record somebody's voice or a distinct noise and make that your ring tone. Creativity is not just left up to a musical group; you can become your own performance artist.

Since your cell phone is a primary function of life then why not customize it to your tastes? There are so many ring tones available you can have one for every person who gets the privilege to be on your SIM card. Depending on who is on your cell phone contact list, you can give each person their own ring tone based on a song that you identify with them. College fight songs, wedding songs, just about any song you can think of they've got a true tone available.

On my own phone, I have five different ringtones. One is for my wife, another for my (very precocious) nine year old daughter who just got her first cell phone, another one for my best friend. Knowing who is calling you saves you the trouble of picking up the phone for a wrong number or a person trying to sell you something.

The creativity of personalizing a ring tone for everybody in your contacts makes shopping for ring tones a blast. If you live near somebody and all you ever hear is their personal ring tone give him or her a treat and let him or her call you while he or she is standing next to you. It will let them know what you get to hear and you can tell them why you picked that ring tone for them. As some technology becomes impersonal, cell phones are still continuing to allow you to make that little device a fun and effective tool.

There are a lot of websites which sell ringtones either on a pay-per ringtone as well as on a subscription basis. When looking at subscription sites, make sure that they offer ringtones that you really want so that you're not stuck with a bunch of ringtones which really aren't to your taste.

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