Wouldn't you love to be the guy who invented the ringtone?
You could have patented it and become an instant billionaire.
There were nearly a billion phones sold last year around the
world and each of them has a default ring setting or two that makes it possible
to sound like just like every other cell phone on the planet. That can be really
confusing if you are in a crowd and you hear this familiar sound coming from
your neighbor's purse or pocket.
I once heard what I thought was my cell phone ring while at sitting
at Starbucks one day and I nearly spilled my drink trying to rush to answer what
I thought was my phone. Don't laugh, I'm sure you'd check your pocket if you
thought you heard your phone ring too.
So instead, there are ringtones. These little jingles are a
way people try to set themselves apart from the crowd. It's all about personalizing
your personality. A ringtone can be your identity. They can be sexy or funny. They
can be loud and funky. And of course, they can be very annoying and
frustrating, especially if it's a song or sound you don't like.
The ringtone as we know it started with Nokia, which put out
a 13-note rendition of a 19th-century Spanish song "Gran Vals."
Nowadays, mobile phones ring in these rich polymorphic tones
or recordings of your own voice and snippets of songs. The most popular these
days is " Poppin,'" by Chris Brown and Jay Biz, according to
Billboard Magazine. Other Top 10 artists include Beyonce Knowles, Justin
Timberlake and Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, who can make your mobile phone
"Fergalicious." I'm not sure what that means, but it probably sounds
pretty cool.
I changed my default setting recently and now I have a cell
phone that screams out the first few bars of the AC/DC's classic, "Back in
Black" if someone calls me. I wonder if that means I am a rebel or just
want to be one.
One of the most popular ringtones in the world -- certainly
at my house -- is Crazy Frog. If you don't know this most annoying thing, consider
yourself lucky. The tune is a remix of "Axel F", from that Beverly
Hills Cop movie. But the song is sung by a cartoon character frog that has this
weird way of trying to imitate the sound of a two-stroke moped engine.
Thankfully, there is a different kind of frog that is
available as a ringtone these days. It seems that
New Mexico
's Center for Biological Diversity
wants to bring attention to their local endangered species. The
organization is offering natural sounds of owls, frogs and other creatures as a
ringtone to download. At the end of last month, the center said it received
24,000 requests.
Now, there is something to hoot and howl about.
IF YOU WANT TO TRY IT YOURSELF:
Remember, that ringtones are big business for mobile phone companies.
Wireless carriers charge $2.50 on average to download the hottest hits. Not to
mention, there are fees involved on your phone bill if you order new ringtones
on a regular basis.
There are free sites that you can download ringtones from.
Keep in mind, however, that the BBC reported that "free ringtones"
was the eighth most likely search term to return links to viruses and other
nasty computer bugs.
If you want to create your own ringtone, try Phone Sherpa or
RingtoneSoup. These Web sites let you make your own ringtone from music in
either an MP3 or from your CDs. You can edit them and then upload them directly
to your cell phone.
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