Slashdot Mirror
Cell Phone Ringtones Give Music Industry Another Headache
Alien54 writes "Xingtone's desktop software allows you to create mobile phone ringtones using digital audio files on your computer. As seen here, The software evokes the same ``oh wow, oh no'' reaction from the labels that greeted the original Napster. The fear is that people will make 30 second long ringtones out of popular songs, thus compounding the file-sharing problem while robbing the music industry of a new source of revenue. Many users find the technology quite cool. IANAL, but current copyright guidelines seem to permit fair use of "Up to 10% of a body of sound recording, but no more than 30 seconds". All of which should make for an interesting legal debate. I can hear the gnashing of teeth already."
30 secs of Wayne Newton as a ringtone... what will the music industry do?!
- Your stupidity got you into this mess, why can't it get you out? -Will Rogers
As long as it's complaint with fair use, I say though shit.
The recording companies weren't creative enough to figure this out, therefore *big raspberry*
Very few pop songs last 300 seconds. The monopoly on long ring tones is maintained.
I predict the phenonmenon of making ringtones out of the latest teen pop will fade quickly as more and more annoying idiots are beaten to death with their own phones. It's happened in isolated incidents before but now we'll have critical mass.
-jpeg
I can't wait to put my latest composition "A Passage of Wind" on my phone!
Yeah, because "Classical Music Butchered Beyond Hope" isn't obnoxious enough. I work at a college. I can't wait for every shitty pop song to be blaring out of some asshat's saggy A&F jeans during class when his roommate's older brother calls to say he got the beer.
Fucking christ. You know the only people that use this are going to be people infatuated with dreadful pop music. It's the same phenomenon as loud car stereos -- I don't think I've ever pulled up to someone with a thumping car at a traffic light and thought, "Oh, good, I really like this song."
--saint
Fair use applies mainly to scholarly enterprises-ringtones on your cell phone do not exactly count as "scholarly."
The only headache I forsee is having to listen to everyone's favourite song every time a phone rings.
But how is taking a snippet of a song and putting it on my phone any worse than taking an entire song and putting it on my computer? Obviously the record companies want people to pay for ringtone-specific clips, but I see nothing wrong with this software.
Who doesn't like free music?
*MUST* the RIAA get paid for *EVERY* time someone does anything *REMOTELY* connected to the shit music their labels pump out? I mean, DAMN. Can't they just let it go!?
*sigh*
- GNU/Anonymous Coward
"That oxygen is ours. We paid for it. It's used to create the high quality music you find at your local vendor. If we find anyone using or sharing that oxygen we'll have no choice but to seek reparations in court. We don't like to be heavy handed, we're just protecting our clients."
I'm waiting for them to hit this stage...then maybe they'll finally run out of things to bitch about..
Some people already own the music, or can buy the actual song for the same price. Why pay twice?
The fear is that people will make ringtones out of pirated songs, thus compounding the file-sharing problem while robbing the music industry of a new source of revenue.
That's not the real fear. The real fear is that people will make ringtones out of the CDs they already have. That process is nothing more than format shifting, trimming, and then playback when a particular event happens to the phone. Uhm... there's no laws against that process.
The record industry is a bit worried because this had appeared to be a new business model for them... but if the software to make a good enough ringtone is easy enough for the average consumer to do on their own, then consumers don't need to pay to re-buy a track they already have if they want it as a ringtone.
Sorry, this business model was dead on arrival. Please try again.
Ugh, stupid cell phones. While this is a neat idea, I keep mine on vibrate, just because I know how annoying a music ringtone is when its someone elses.
It seems that the current actions of the record industry are analagous to the papal authority during the reign of Pius IX. In both cases, science and technology began to encroach upon the ideas, or intellectual property, of the parties mentioned. Instead of trying to move with the flow of progress, they lashed back with extremist policy (The Syllabus of Errors, lawsuits). For Pius IX, this accelerated the demise of his authority. It should be interesting to see how these policies work out for the record industry.
_____
Thank you.
No. Not more awful ringtones. Please.
I hate ringtones. Particularly ringtones of songs. Now everyone will have thier favorite song as a ringtone.
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
I don't know if they last 30 seconds, but ring tones of popular songs already exist, at least in Norway/Europe. It has existed for a quite some time, at least 5 years if not more.
People say I'm crazy, I got diamonds on the soles of my shoes...
That way Xingtone will be mad about people ripping off their idea to rip off the music industry.
How about the rest of us people that don't really think banging out some recent candy-crap-hop tune from ones phone is cool, but rather annnoying as all hell?
i'll take my answer off the air....
The sooner that annoying ringtones are stamped out, the better. It's getting to the point where you can't even watch a movie or go to a lecture without being distracted by mobiles ringing constantly. What's the big appeal of having a loud, obnoxious musical ring tone, anyway? Is it just novelty or what?
... a new way for teh real artist(s) to promote their own music so to develop a following that the middleman RIAA will have to bid on (compete in deal making with each other) to ultimately give the artist(s) a better deal and actually pay the artists their proper due...... rather then subsidizing wannabe artists who played the who knows who, who fu&'d who game..
Consumers win..... getting better music...and so do the real artists.
I worked for a cell phone company and they had a way to make sure you could not upload midi or wav files to your phone by hiding the file extension (not the MIME type) the phone will accept. Thus, to upload a midi file, you had to name the file something other than .mid for the phone to accept it. Of course, all is needed is a leak and everyone can do it...
...you make your OWN ringtones. Use a midi-notation software, then use a site like 3gupload to put them onto your phone. Much cheaper than buying them (the site has a whole bunch of ringtones too), and if you're like me, you can put strange ringtones that you'll never find elsewhere.
Obviously customised ringtones are just not enough. We even have polyphonic ringtones, as well as the ability to download them off the net and from the phone. Personally, I'd be happy with the "ring-ring", since nobody uses it anyway. Amongst all the lame ringtone versions of Britney Spears and Outkast my "ring ring" will shrill loud and clear.
Yeah, call me a loser but it's true. Just look at all the legal implications which have resulted.
Buying ringtones through cell phone providers is a joke. You pay $2.50 for a ringtone that will expire in 2 months. Atleast that is how Sprint is. You were able to create ringtones before just it wasn't as easy as a couple clicks. You would need to take the song in winamp or a sound recorder and trim it to 30 seconds and save it in a low quality format. Then you have to convert it using QUALCOMM PureVoice Converter. Most people that I know get "free" ringtones already from www.3gupload.com.
http://seanism.com/
Far from worrying here in the UK music ring tones are popular in the UK. People are willing to pay 1.50 (or more) for a ring tone, yet are not willing to pay that much for a single this has a few analysts baffled. It's probably all convenience, anyone can copy a single from the radio, from a friends CD, download it from the net etc.. but getting ringtones on a mobile phone is a bit more complex for the average person. As a result people are willing to pay for them.
It's not uncommon now to see adverts on peak time TV for ring tone services where you text a number with the name of a song, and you'll receive that ring tone.
A few people have made millions of pounds from these services. There not hush-hush services either, a few of these people have even been the subjects of BBC Documentaries.
Channel 4 even allow you to download ring tones from their site - http://www.channel4.com/mobile/
With Cellphones Europe seems to be ahead of the the game compaired the US. Japan on the other hand are ahead of Europe with 3G phones!
For those that can't get enough of William Hung.
IANAL, but current copyright guidelines seem to permit fair use of "Up to 10% of a body of sound recording, but no more than 30 seconds". All of which should make for an interesting legal debate. I can hear the gnashing of teeth already."
It's odd that you linked to guidelines of some non legal body as opposed to some actual legal document.
While I usually disagree w/ idiots blathering on about fair use, I think short clips at vastly degraded quality for personal use on your cell phone come pretty damn close to making the cut.
Come on - the RIAA can't make electronic distribution of music profitable but cellphone companies can? ...and by virtue of that, the particular mathematical transformation that re-encodes the sequences of acoustic impulses necessary to modulate the cellphone speaker to produce a familiar noise must be challenged in court? It's okay to use some speakers but not others?
These companies have a horrible time keeping their business models up to date... and inter-industrial consistency in argument seems to be failing.
?/o
...kind of secretly hope that the record companies win this one, just so I don't have to listen to the ringtones :) Most of the 'music' ones (especially using MIDI) are just horrible, and once people start making them more frequently on their own, expect the quality to get even worse, just like good ol' mp3s.
- c -
The music industry does't seem to have a problem with every rap "artist" sampling the heck out of other peoples music. I don't see the difference when I sample it. Call my cell phone "ART" --Colin
This week on Frontline, arguably the best show on television, is titled, "The way the music died." It looks fascinating and, perhaps, even balanced. I do hope the bottom line is, however, that the music industry is a dated industry that refuses (due to some dumb executives) to adapt.
-Sean
but you're gonna get *so sued* when Apple patents the name for its oh-so-cute white vibrator. .*)
iAnal, that is
New concept: ban all ring tones; all that is needed is vibrate mode. It would solve so many problems...
Could the labels claim that Xington has reverse engineered or cracked the process for uploading ring tones?
I personally hate ringtones, even in the office some nut has beethoven beeping and booping... what's wrong with vibrate?
As someone who cut and made ringtones for my own phone, I can say that several people already knew about this. What the program does, from the looks of their feature set is to make this available to the John Everyman, and make it easy to use. Sites like CraigGiven (read the FAQ) and the such have had information on how to do this for a bit now (Thats where I learned it from. My own phone site is at www.9xrnet.com/9x/sprintpcs with some old school game songs). But there are places like MyPhoneFiles that already have popular tunes available for download at no charge. I guess the program is really for the avg layman who wants to have some indie song or something that isn't mainstream on their cellphone.
The submitter claims IANAL, but current copyright guidelines seem to permit fair use of "Up to 10% of a body of sound recording, but no more than 30 seconds".
The submitter is missing the context of the part of the document he referenced. The 10%/30 seconds guideline is meant to clarify what portions of referenced works means in the top of the document. There is no fair use when the only purpose is your own enjoyment.
Whether owning the CD gives you the right to use this is a seperate question, but there the 10%/30 seconds rule doesn't apply.
On Sprint, it's easy to get around the ringtone expiration, at least on some phones. Just grab a data cable, a copy of BitPim and you can back up all the files on your phone. Then, you can send the ringtone back to your phone later. Bye-bye expiration date.
No they cant let it go.. they DO want every time, they DO want pay per listen..
Its their business model.. ( or at least what model they want.. )
Ya, they suck.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
That URL should be
http://bitpim.sf.net
/me bangs head on wall.
That is SO true!
People say I'm crazy, I got diamonds on the soles of my shoes...
So how does one load a ringtone? I was disappointed to find that my new Nokia phone didn't include a ringtone composer. The various ringtone services must download them by text message or something. If I have a computer with a modem can I send ringtones to myself?
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
Wake me when someone comes out with a Mac or Linux/BSD version.
I don't see this being a concern for very long; eventually most cell phones will play MP3s straight out (my Nokia 3300 already does this), so you can just start playing the song itself. Worse of all for the labels, this would be completely legal if you got the MP3 legitimately, as you're simply playing it for yourself on a music player.
Place your bets.
Seeing bad movies only encourages them. Watch responsibly
An RIAA Protestor was beaten up as his cell phone rang "Its all about money" when the RIAA members were unanimously playing "Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away"
Striving to be common
Striving to be common...
there's this handy site I made,which will take any MIDI file, put it on a WAP server, and let you use it as a polyphonic ringtone, for free.
So let me get this straight:
1. Fair use is 10% of a song or 30 seconds, whatever comes first, right?
2. Making ring tones out of popular songs falls under fair use.
What am I missing? Ah yes, I know!
3. Someone with a large lobbying department is not making a profit.
Don't worry. If fair-use prevents the making of a large profit, fair-use will be weakened.
A little over two centuries ago, Thomas Jefferson considered copyrights as a sort of necessary evil to promote the creation of works that would (eventually) be in the public domain.
Today, copyrights exit for only three things: profit, profit, profit. The company that benefited from the vast amount of ideas that had passed into the public domain (Disney) was the company that promoted the idea of "forever" copyrights.
Cell phones need much better bass response for this to work well. A bass driver that works between the front and back of the case would help. Plus, you could use the same device for vibrate mode.
These ringtones are based on MIDI, which -- as we all know -- is dying. That's right, MIDI had its chance to capture the market for music distribution, and it failed. Netcraft confirms,... Oh wait, wrong thread.
The "cue the foo posts in 3, 2, 1..." posts will commence with no subsequent foo posts in 3, 2, 1...
to hear the latest pop music. They seem to really like it, like a commercial. The stuff /is/ catchy. "We're 'doin sip-ups"We're 'doin sip-ups..."..." now with *energy*, "yeah, come on, come on" - now laser lights... fog... cheerleaders(oh wait, I forgot, pop music, commercials and sports are all different... :)
Can you tell how long it's been since I've tuned in?
RIAA == idiots
www.clarke.ca
...the original Nokia phone ring or the latest teen beat song ring tone?
Sure, people might already own the music, but that's not what they're paying for. They're paying for the music to be instantly transferred to their phone in a usable format.
People that want to save money have already got the option of using the 'record' function on their phones to pick up a clip of the song and then set it as a ringtone. Ringtone downloads aren't aimed at those people. They're aimed at kids who want to quickly change their ringtone as a fashion item, possibly while at school or out with friends. If you have to go home to your computer, it's just not as cool anymore.
--This is a self-referential sig--
..is not coming from the Music Industry, it's coming from those of us who hate cell phones already and this will only serve to exacerbate the problem that much more. I was ready to get out of a long line at the post office (I was second from the front of about twenty in line) the other day just to silence a really annoying cell phone ring someone thought was cute and one everybody else should hear before he answered the call and "invited" everyone to listen in on the conversation as well; half of it anyway.
Precisely. Setting up a cell phone to play part of a song when it rings isn't any different from setting a computer or a cd player to play a song when the alarm goes off in the morning. Are they going to sue the authors of all those alarm-clock Winamp plugins next?
"Because Science" is one step from "Because old book". Try "Because of my experiment testing my falsifiable assertion".
Once I finally got my hands on a Bluetooth enabled laptop a few months ago, I've been able to send ringtones to my T610 without any problems whatsoever. The best part is that I can use practically any MIDI I find online, which means I don't have to settle for the tripe that is otherwise "offered" by my cell phone provider.
Anyways, I've found that video game MIDIs, particularly SNES, make the best ringtones. The instruments carry over well to a ring, there are hundreds and thousands of available songs you can get online, and they're just all out fun.
So, I don't really see why a community like slashdot would really care that they can't put the latest Outkast or 50 Cent ring on their phone. There are much better rings out there. Just be courteous and turn those goddamn things off before entering a movie theatre or something, cause I can tell you right fucking now I don't want to hear Kefka's theme from FF6 blasting out of your phone right as a J. Lo-portrayed Samus Aran is putting the hurt down on some aliens in the next big John Woo movie.
Not that our phones are ringing anyway...
--
Is it me, or did it just get fatter in here?
I really don't see how this is a problem. Its basiclly just free advertising. Someone has a clip of a song on their cell phone, someone else hears it and likes the tune. Said person then asks person what the song is. After which he hopefully (in the music industries eyes) either buys the CD or legally downloads the single.
You can't fault the RIAA for trying to soak the maximum value out of everything they do, that's just plain the nature of greed and we all have it to some degree.
Really, I blame the people who think this kind of behaviour is acceptable, and apologize for them.
The downloadable ringtone market is expected to double to $4 billion by 2008. Just because Slashdotters don't think ringtones are cool won't stop millions of pre-teen mushbrains from blowing their allowances on ringtones, and you can be damn sure the RIAA knows it.
solution, buy this company and then create a subscription service based on it effectively killing it.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
How about the RIAA pay me everytime I am subjected to their ring tone.
Learn more
"Phone Test
In order to use Xingtone, it's important to have the right mix of equipment and mobile services. Here's what you need:
[1] A mobile phone that operates on one of the following networks in the US and Canada: AT&T Wireless, Bell Canada, Cellular One, Cingular, Fido, Rogers AT&T, Sprint, & T-Mobile. "
Anyone know why this is only limited to US and Canadian phone companys???
If ever one was to shoot your self in the foot this is it.
Its just beging for another company to start up and offer it world wide, and suddenly overnight surpass your market share..
You have 5 Moderator Points!
Which Helpless Linux zealot/MS basher do you want to mod down today?
I'm just going to add a small speaker to my personal stereo player and have it play short pieces of music while I watch everyone reach for their phone to see if it's ringing.
This is a joke of a story. the next generation of cell phones will have a 'in' port like usb or firewire, which will effectively destroy the ringtone industry. when any mp3 or aif or wav can be your ringtone who needs them. they made 2-3 billion a year for the last few years, they've made some money now it's time to move on. the great irony is that kiddies we're spending 2-3 bucks per 20 second ring tone, yet elsewhere people we're complaining that 1 dollar full songs on iTunes we're too expensive.
/ PDFs/ap r04/ParksPoints_apr04_JB-rt.pdf
Ideas stolen from:
http://www.parksassociates.com/ParksPoints
I actually RTFA and found this software isn't much different than using a basic freeware wave editor to crop an audio clip down to 30 seconds or so and then converting the resulting output with whatever compression format your cell phone uses for digital audio. I've done this with my Sprint phone using Qualcomm's free converter and it basically sounds absolutely horrible for anything except voice/a capella clips.
I was really hoping for something that uses intelligent waveform analysis to help you render a decent sounding MIDI file from the original digital audio. MIDI ringtones are really the only way to end up with something that remotely resembles the original song.
As for the RIAA's objections, they've been polluting P2P networks with MP3s that contain 30 second clips of the chorus/hook looped over and over for the entire original duration of the song. They're worthless enough to distribute on P2P, but they're lost revenue as ringtones. I get the feeling the RIAA is in the business of hypocrisy and music is just a side thing.
This is becoming a standard formula:
them:
1. "announcement of new use of existing material that provides benefical results to consumers"
2. "involves a charge"
sdot:
1. "f**k off, something else we need to pay for"
2. "it's the RIAA trying to get us again"
3. "what artists? ignore them, they get nothing anyway!"
4. "more free beer"
5. "we paid for it once, not again"
rehash
rehash
rehash
"It's problematic, because it has the potential to eviscerate the business model early in its development," said Ted Cohen, EMI Music's senior vice president of digital development and distribution.?
Anyone with an inkling of understanding of digital recording knew this was a completely idiotic business model. A ringtone is just a digital recording. Did they expect no one to realize that you could take a snippet of any song and use it as a ringtone?
I've noticed that in situations where you have to have your ringer on (ie you have to leave your phone on a desk in a shop or something), distinctive rings offer the advantage of not having everyone in the room running to check their phones when a phone rings. Think back to a few years ago to the standard beep rings and a phone went off, everyone in a room would check theirs to see if it was them. So while a phone ring is still frustrating, at least knowing which phone it is takes the edge off. Also, the song rings don't make your nerves crunch every time they go off like the old single-tone rings did.
We are truly humbled by your superiority.
Just follow these simple steps
1. slice your songs into 10 equally sized chunks (10% each)
2. name them original_song_title.mp3.X where X = (0-9 corresponding to the chunk that it is).
3. Have each smaller file shared on P2P network.
4. Laugh at the RIAA
BTW, my own ringtone is a recording of an old-fashioned telephone bell... I don't inflict reedy-sounding pop music on innocent bystanders.
--Larry
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence
Since ringtones have become popular I've noticed that fewer people choose the vibrate option. For those of you with ringtones get a clue, your ringtones are NOT cool! Everytime I hear one I just roll my eyes. Everyone thinks that they have the one tone that is soooo cooool that nobody will mind listening to it. People fail to realize that others don't want to be interrupted by random snips of ANY music played on a crappy speaker.
Perhaps if the RIAA managed to get some draconian measures enforced to charge you a royalty fee everytime your dumbass ringtone went off you'd switch back to vibrate. I hate the RIAA, but honestly, I hate ringtones more.
plurvert
these things are giving me a big splitting headache too.
also for those of you who own nokia phones, PLEASE change your ringtone from the default. that is the one i hate most.
indierock / punkrock band photos and more... http://www.digitaldefection.net
Wait...I thought some phones already could play mp3s as their ringtone. Hell, I think you can pick up a cellphone these days that will brush your teeth for you.
Caveat Emptor is not a business model.
If they ever locate one of their recordings on which someone farted, I expect all toilets to become a DRM'd pay service.
Loudeye Technologies up in Seattle has possibly the biggest authorized digital music archive in North America, all of it sanctioned by the five major labels and countless indies (they supply audio files to Microsoft, Apple among others), yet they also recently started selling ringtones.
Isn't there a conflict of interest right there?
The RIAA is not entitled to receive royalties every damn time a person uses a piece of music. I suppose all those annoying twits who put their fave overture on their answering machines owe them money, or every time you hum a few notes. I vote for deporting all these idiots to the Remote, Unescapable Isle of Darl. Let 'em sue each other for the rest of their lives and leave us real people alone.
---
SCO is weenies
Gator is Spyware
Microsoft is thugs
...part of me hopes the RIAA can ban this. I am so @#$% sick of having to listen to long, annoying song clip ringtones erupting out of coworkers cubes at maximum volume, especially when they aren't there and left their cellphone on their desk, and it just plays over and over and over...
Right now ringtones for the song itself are running nearly 2.50 per tone. Now if I can buy the same song off napster for .99c then what am I paying for. Most of those tones are of the parts of the song I dont want for the ringer either way. This gives me choice. Something the RIAA cant stand anyone to have.
thats odd for as long as i can remember cdnow.com (now amazon) would let you listen to 30 seconds of most cd tracks. Why doesn't the RIAA go after them?
/ qid=1085332196/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/102-6516000-98441 60
example (offspring's new splinter cd)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000DIC87
I'm not suggesting that makes an ounce of sense, but it's certainly not chump change here.
Thanks for telling us about the link without providing the link. Do-it-yourself ringtone software encroaching on potential profits, some record labels say.
It's very easy to turn sample files into ringtones for free. For Sprint PCS users, the Xingtone software just creates a GCD file (more info) and hosts is on a website for your phone to download. It converts the WAV file to Qualcomm PureVoice (.QCP) format (which you can do using Qualcomm's free converter for Windows and Linux). There's more info here.
Building Better Software
Why are these certain cell phone carriers allowing this software to work with their phones? They obviously generate a significant amount of revenue from ring tones. They are only undercutting their profits by letting people roll their own.
use MIDIs.
The real fear is that people will make ringtones out of the CDs they already have. That process is nothing more than format shifting, trimming, and then playback when a particular event happens to the phone. Uhm... there's no laws against that process.
If your phone plays the exact cut, you may be right. But if your phone plays a bunch of beeps that are the tune, that is a "derived work". And we're back to the issue of how much is "fair use".
IANAL, but current copyright guidelines seem to permit fair use of "Up to 10% of a body of sound recording, but no more than 30 seconds".
The linked web page says that the North Carolina Department of Public Education believes that is the case IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL SETTING. For instance: As part of a class project in K-12 education.
That does not necessarily mean the same guidelines are applicable when you're doing it to replace purchasing a ringtone for your telephone from the copyright holder. The limits of fair use in that situation may be narrower.
Remember that one of the issues to be weighed in determining whether an act is "fair use" is how much it impacts the potential income of the copyright holder. We have evidence from the existing market that people are willing to pay over a buck for a ringtone. Things get even more interesting if somebody is making a profit by selling the tool, or (worse yet) selling the ringtones themselves.
IANAL either. I would love it if a lawyer or paralegal among our readership could post a pointer to an authoritative guideline or (better yet) a precedent on the boundaries of fair use OUTSIDE the educational context.
The fear [of the RIAA] is that people will make ringtones out of pirated songs, thus compounding the file-sharing problem while robbing the music industry of a new source of revenue.
IMHO that's correct. "Whack-a-mole" enforcement, no doubt preceeded by a strike against the toolmaker based on the claim that the tool is a piracy aid.
So for the reasons above we should be prepared for the courts to agree with the RIAA when the inevitable suit is filed.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
... has ruled that RIAA does have the right to install microphones and automated tune-recognition systems on sidewalks, hiking trails and hallways througohout the US to 'identify and prosecute lawbreakers' who violate their copyrights by whistling, humming or singing copyrighted songs without permission.
In its ruling, the Court agreed with the precedent cited by RIAA, their successful case against the Girl Scouts and Campfire Girls for royalties accrued as a result of girls singing 'Kumbaya', 'Happy Birthday' and other popular songs around the campfire.
It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
These people are insane... why aren't they simply ignored? Oh, right... they bribe our politicians, and sometimes even write the actual laws they want passed -- God bless Word(TM) meta-data.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
Xingtone is awesome.
.wav or mp3 ready.
Here's how to upload your OWN TONES without paying for XINGTONE:
1. start XINGTONE.
2. have your pre-trimmed
3. navigate to the xingtone app directory
4. overwrite a demo tone with your new sound (keep the name the same).
5. upload.
Congratulations. You are t3h winnar!
Now you can finally have the guitar intro to "Where is my mind" by the Pixies, instead of "In Da Club" by 50-Cent. Treknerds can make their phone sound like a tricorder, or get beamed up everytime their phone rings.. whoopee!
Why a freehack? -- The audio quality is crappier than 8-bit audio, you may also have normalization problems (too loud/soft). Their demo is just 3 canned sounds that are decompressed onto your hardrive when the app is started, and removed upon app-shutdown. The app is useful, but not worth $15. Not to mention the fact that many people have to pay additional $$ to their mobile service provider per byte/kb of data transferred...
scam.
Remember: We only use recordable devices because of human playback limitations.
My current phone allows me to use any mp3 as a ringtone, no conversion necessary. As far as I can tell this is becoming more and more common on new phones. With more and more phones and computers supporting bluetooth it's also getting easier to transfer them onto the phone. Eventually it's going to become convienient enough that people won't be willing to pay to be sent ringtones when they could just use music they already own.
Posted by michael on Monday May 23, @01:25PM
from the we-miss-the-dmca dept.
The RIAA announced today that they have secured the exclusive right to the key of G-flat.
Previously, the key of G-flat was a popular key among independant Open Music authors, as the RIAA had neglected to secure rights to it during the Commercial Copyright Reforms of 2016.
RIAA spokesman Darl Hollingsworth explained, "After CCR/2016, the RIAA secured the rights to all keys in which music can be composed. Traditional music theory, dating back to the 15th century, stipulates that there is no such key signature as G-flat major. Unfortunately, Open Music pirates have discovered a way to represent the key of G-flat; however, G-flat major is simply an isomorph of F-sharp. The court rightly recognized this equivalence and the blatent theft of musical keys by Open Music pirates everywhere. In accordance with the law, the Supreme Court of the United States of America has assigned us the world-wide copyright to these songs."
While timing is expected to vary from state to state, all residents of the USA will have their CRMIs (Cranial Rights Management Implants) updated by the end of 2023. The levy for mentally accessing a song written in G-flat will begin at twice the regular rate, to make up for nearly a decade of Note Piracy. The levy will be scaled back to the regular rate of $19.84 per thought once the new CRMI software has been uploaded for two years. Residents of the so-called "Oil States" of Iraq and Saudi America will continue to receive the Western Culture subsidy.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
This sounds very cool. Now I could convert my NSF or SPC (NES and SNES) songs and play them on a cell phone! It's always fun to have a ring tone from some from some obscure game and see if anyone recognizes it.
There is a sucker born every minute.
sulli
RTFJ.
When they figure out how to charge for 'vibrate' then they'll start charging us for not being deaf.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Cell Phone Ringtones Give Music Industry Another Hard-on.
Paypal was not around nor had anyauthority during the reign of Pius IX. I jus checked in my priest's coloring book.
Suppose Apple and Motorola team up to produce a cell phone iPod. It'd be able to play securely and legally purchased music (from iTunes, for example, or ripped from legally purchased CDs) at any time, including when someone calls you. You wouldn't have had to pay any extra money for it, either.
I don't see how this is any different than that, and cell phone tech is already at the point where you could download an mp3 to normal cell phones and use it as your ring tone anyway. (Why this hasn't happened yet is anybody's guess, but I would not be in the least surprised to see it in the next round of cell phones.)
while robbing the music industry of a new source of revenue
Awwww...de-dums...it robs them of a new source of income. You know what? We never saw this much debate when thousands and thousands of people lost their jobs in mining/farming/off-shore out sourcing...whatever. The entertainment industry needs to wake the fuck up and realise that nothing lasts forever. Society evolves and if you don't evolve with it then you die...
I have a ringtone so I can tell that it's my phone ringing.
Being an avid Animal Crossing fan, I might as well make the joke. I hope the RIAA is getting fees from Nintendo, since the tone composer in Animal Crossing can let you make clones of copyrighted songs.
Eurohacker European paranoia, gun rights, and h
So then instead of just downloading the wrong file or song, you'd download 10% of the wrong song, 30 seconds of some porn clip, a goatse.cx image and a chain letter in text form :)
When your mobile phone rings, it's often in a "place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered". So if your phone ever rings in a public place, then under U.S. copyright law's definition of "publicly" (17 USC 101), causing your phone to play a copyrighted work whenever a call comes in amounts to performing the work publicly. Copyright law also gives the owner of copyright in a musical work a monopoly on authorizing such public performances (17 USC 106) subject to limitations listed later in the title.
One advantage of MIDI ringtones is that they don't involve the RIAA. You may need BMI/ASCAP clearance, but you're not reproducing a recording, you're generating a performance. That's far cheaper and there's a compulsory license.
If you have a song fragment and you use it as your cell's ringtone, it's bad but if you whistle it walking down the street or sing it in a bar (without it playing on a radio, jukebox, etc.) it's okay? For every rule they claim, there are so many exceptions to counter it. No matter what goes on, if someone [and their technology] is capable of reaching "their"[1] assets with a ten-foot pole and the sales aren't what they want the to be (so even if they increase over previous years, that may not be good enough), it's the fault of users?
This sounds like what Microsoft's logic would be if they had some [full-blown] competition - such in the days of when OS/2 was on par with the version of Windows at that time.
When|if Microsoft runs into competition (whether it be Linux or some other app-supportable OS), we're seeing what they will say then.
[1] "their" is obviously not truly their assets, but that of the artist(s) and|or producers and|or other persons who actually contribute to the IP. I think the record|music|entertainment industry has gotten a bit too big for their britches as we know they have little-to-nothing with affecting the quality of the finished product.
I've been doing it for a year... My P800 plays WAV files or 3GP files. I've been exporting from Quicktime and blue toothing them over since the T68i came out. Anybody with half a brain and a modern cellphone can do this... I guess everybody needs a single utility to accomplish things for them now to make something 'mainstream'.
It's their fucking egos. As many bad things as you can say about the BSA, they don't stoop to the level of the RIAA and MPAA. These people can't just let it go because they truly believe you should pay them sixteen dollars every time you listen to "oops I did it again." Part of the problem may be that most of the people making these idiotic decisions are failed artists themselves; they've figured out a business model that allows them to leech off people with talent, and they've convinced themselves they really deserve such a big piece of the pie. But many real artists feel the same way too unfortunately. Either way, it isn't just money. They've wasted a ton of money on this crusade, and even though the crusade is allowing them to extort millions, it probably would have been much wiser to invest their money in discovering new ways to do business in the internet age. It's clear the crusade itself is more than just about lost profits or lost opportunities -- their inflated sense of self-importance is at stake.
If you do only take 10% of the song, then perhaps you should only pay 10% of the cost of a single?
Anyway, so much of pop music samples short parts, robs bits of older tracks or is just a plain remix, then who's actually losing out?
Has anyone patented the business model of the RIAA (sue teenagers into submission claiming theft of IP, but don't actually pay all the artists what they are owed)? 'Cos it'd be a very valuable patent - more so than Amazon's half-click one!
Of course, by holding out on pay-per-download for so long (to the extent that Congress was considering forcing the RIAA's hand), the RIAA has created so much bad blood that it'll take at least a generation (20 years) to work its way it, if it ever does.
I mean really? vidio on a screen that small? what is the point? you can't watch porn on the tube any way besides which you'd get ur phone nicked if it was a 3g job).
I am a sig
At this rate, you will probably have to pay license fees to even hum a tune.
I don't carry my phone in my trouser pocket. It's in my coat, which is loose-fitting. When I used to have the phone on vibrate only, I missed about 70% of calls.
Does this mean I have to get rid of my 18 minute In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida ring tone? :)
I honestly don't see how this makes such a huge difference- most mobile phone providers (Verizon, Cingular, AT&T Wireless, TMobile) have free downloadable ringtones- the annoyance is already here! The *real* cool cell phone ring tone is one my friend has- the classic female computer voice sings his name... "Josh, Josh... Joosshhh". It's pretty cool :)
- CD
- Code Dark
The fear is that people will make 30 second long ringtones out of popular songs.
I fear that too...
I read the internet for the articles.
There are good bugs and there are bad bugs. In my books this is a angel sent to correct users system configuration!
I would love to see nothing more than every record lable in the country go belly up. But I SERIOUSLY doubt it will be because of ring tones. It's getting to the point that no one can inovate in an area that has anything to do with music without the music companies wanting their cut as if they earned it. And even IF they are given their (un)fair cut they always seem to want more and use their $billions to get it using legal trickery that the small guys can't match. What have we learned from this? Do not invent, or take your inventions to another country because in America if you don't have enough money to take on the big guys, you get ripped out of your invention or worse, jail time.
This is cool and all - saves having to punch in the tones yourself in the phone's built-in ringtone editor (if it has one). But...
Ease of use still dictates that a user will dial in to their provider and browse their vast library of ringtones, and pay the $0.10/0.50/1.00/whatever to get it, and have it installed - rather than having to wait to get home, hook up their phone to the computer, get the song, convert it, send it up to the phone, install it.
Of course the RIAA (and global equivalents) and phone companies (they get a cut, ya know) will try to fight anything that will cut into their revenuestream, but it's not like the ringtone industry will all of a sudden collapse.
-----
On a different note.. what's up with some of the comments here.
In a nutshell, it is claimed that pop music is, by default, crap. It is an evil that should be eradicated from the face of the Earth. People who listen to it are sheep (whoa, ph34r the religion analogies!) who have no taste in music.
Then, in most of these comments, posters go on to claim that the RIAA is evil for charging for this pop music in every which way the RIAA can find.
Now what am I supposed to glean from this ?
"I hate pop music, but I also hate being charged for it when I get it" ? Hypocracy - works for me.
You'd think all these users would be happy that the RIAA and so forth charge premium for pop music. After all, if people get sick of paying through the nose for pop music, maybe they will move to the not-so-mainstream music that is heralded as aural bliss by these same users.
Oh, but.. then THAT music would probably increase in price (or their performers get signed up with the RIAA/other organisation, etc..)... and they, too, would have to pay premium for the "actually good" music.
Is that it ? Is it a fear that maybe the masses will flock to what they believe is their personal niche market that sets them apart from the sheep - in essence making *them* sheep ?
I'm just so confused when I read such posts.
I also love paraphrasing the movie Contact. (Hey, who doesn't?) In it the allegation was made that a scientist who didn't believe in God must therefore believe that 95% of the population must be suffering of some sort of mass delusion.
One could pose the same for pop music. If you say it sucks (not *think* it sucks, but claim as a fact that it does), then you must believe that N% (where N is much higher than 50, but I have no exact figure) is suffering from mass delusion.
And perhaps they would be right - perhaps those who listen to pop music have been 'conditioned' into liking it. But a good portion may simply just actually like (some of the) pop music out there. Just as a good portion of religious believers are devout believers, rather than just going along with the flow.
Just my 2cts. And yes, I do listen to pop music regularly along with obscure artists. The music world is not as black and white as some posters here may wish it was.
If the Industry is actually serious about this... then we need to treat them the way we treat other people that act insane and admit them to the psych ward for evaluation. If they continue on this path, the next thing they will want is royalities from you for humming the song or singing along during a concert.
If what you are reading sounds funny, or sarcastic, lame, or stupid
it is because it is supposed to be. just laugh
Unpopular? Maybe. Inferior? Sorry, Bill, but even your own engineers don't believe that, no matter how much Kool-Aid you put out for them at the MS company picnics.
>don't give you raw manipulable data. If the >record companies and pay-per-download >enterprises would just provide raw data, cell phone users wouldn't need to turn to illegal sources.
Why not just record to a casette deck hooked up
to the sound card, (Hell, a desk tape recorder
will suffice), re record from the deck
to a *.WAV or *.MP3 file, and just work from
there? High fidelity isn't even an issue for ring
tones, scince the speakers in these phones
are crap anyway.
So what is the point of musical ringtones anyway. I believe it may have originally started as a way to have different ring sounds for different people, but got way out of hand. Since it is useful to have different ringtones if you are in a group of people (so you know its your phone ringing nd not one of the others at the table in the restaurant) a good answer would be by default have the phone say the name of the owner of the phone. "Jane Johnson you have a text message" or "John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt you have a phone call" That way it would be obvious whose phone is ringing (and who to beat up if its somewhere innapropriate for cellphones, like a theatre)
As an extra option it could state who was calling (if the number is on the list of contacts) but this would probably be off by default, as it could be embarrising sometimes...
Hmmm maybe I should apply for a patent for this idea.
You've obviously constipated yourself.
I don't want knowledge. I want certainty. - Law, David Bowie
The guidelines quoted are intended as guidelines for students who wish to use copyrighted material, so doesn't quite apply. The guidelines also mention that non-educational use should get permission before using. The problem is that the ones who use the material can still be sued. Those
sued can claim fair use, but it is up to the courts to decide if it is fair use or not. Fair use is often described as an affirmative defense. I think it shold be a right, but a lot of people don't treat it that way, which is why we have non fair use friendly copyright protection schemes.
There are no hard and fast percentage/amount rules about what constitutes fair use. I honestly can't say if this is fair use or not. I'm betting that the litigious companies won't share that view. ^_^ They'll have similar problems as they have with P2P, but I think we'll see something happening there.
Another opportunity for corporations to surround you with their mindless noise and - oh gee - they're infuriated. Unless somebody plays ringtones into a concert microphone and says it's his song, these idiots have nothing to risk an ulcer over.
I am NOT a number! I am a - oh wait, I'm number 761710. Look! 761710!
I have a T610. It takes one second to start ringing and 29 seconds for it to climb to over 30 decibels and be audible to human hearing, at which time it instantly switches to voicemail. Argh!
That's why I only breathe LiquiVent instead of that "air" stuff you common people breathe...
Or perhaps have a computer automatically divide the file into "packets"?
Surely the point is that now we can compose our own music and download that, instead of the current pop and classical tunes which are advertised for download in every newspaper and magazine on premium rate numbers and have been for years.
You could use this to index all your songs. Then you hum/whistle/sing/fart a part of the song which gets converted to the same file format and you start comparing it to all the songs in the library looking for a close match. You could use as a method of searching a p2p network (or ligitimate site) for a song you want but don't know the name/artist of. Or use it to switch to a song already in your playlist. I suppose some of the tone-deaf out there wouldn't have much luck with it. If this utility can make a midi-like (sorry didn't read the article) file from a song
How is pointing out that composing your own ring tones would be cool a troll?
Maybe you don't think it's cool, but I do.
I set my cell phone to a Generic Ring, and to the maximum volume setting.
How much of that is in the US? My understanding is that they were a big suprise money maker for 3G phones when they were first introduced. However, as 3G phones have slowly started to make their delayed entrance into the US market everyone was licking their chops over the ringtones and other forms of easy money, but have been disappointed to learn that only games have done well.
The wired article says 40 BILLION for text messaging world wide. Another feature which is also not as big of a hit in the US. I know I'd use it more if I wasn't stuck with a pay-to-use plan.
plus-good, double-plus-good
I've said it before, but if the record industry wants to stop piracy, they have to start "adding value" to CDs. One of the ways to so this is to include a once-only download code for a ringtone from the album. Shouldn't cost much to implement, and makes buying the album "worth it" to those who might have otherwise pirated it (can we spell "teenager"?). Make the ownership of the actual album a status symbol to that demographic, and they will spend the money.
Actually happened to me the other day. I was walking from one of our buildings to another location (our offices are in downtown Houston) and some guy pulls up to a stoplight near me with windows down. A second later I'm hearing Rush's "Spirit of Radio" at what must have been better than a hundred decibles.
Have to admit though it was a first for me. Never once heard anyone blasting anything I liked before.
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
I'm not suggesting that makes an ounce of sense, but it's certainly not chump change here.
Sure it is, who else would buy them? It's just a metric buttload of chump change.
'nuff said
Boring Old Fart (40, married, 3 kids...er no...make that 49, married, 3 grown up kids...it's been a long time)
"Kill mobile phones.. KILL MOBILE PHONES!"
Gotta love those phone costumes, too..
...nitrogen! I'm almost on the brink of patenting nitrogen. I've got a little "prior art" problem, but my IP lawyers (they work for SCO too) say that's just a technicality and with the licensing fees I'll be get by suing end users with little or no cash will make the PanIP guys look like schoolchildren.
I may go to hell for this, but I bet even money they turn me back at the gates!
Xingtone.com has made finding your lost registration key pretty easy
Go to Xingtone.com and find "Lost Your Serial Number?
If you need to retrieve your serial number for full use of Xingtone, you can do so HERE."
Xingtone will display the user key if you type in your phone number.
a few quick tries and i found a full license for 1111111111
Opened the program and registered, i can now convert full songs.
Well you can't send the ringtone to 1111111111 of course.
So another little workaround:
After converting the song and BEFORE pressing upload, open up the settings option again
and change the number to your cell #. Press save and the song is still open in Xingtone.
Press upload and the ringtone sends to your phone.
Change cell # back and repeat.
Try it quick! they may fix it soon!