Short History of Cellphone Ringtones

RobotWisdom writes "This week's New Yorker magazine includes an interesting short history of cellphone ringtones, including statistics on their (huge) profitability worldwide. My favorite quote: 'I spent three days of productive work time listening to polyphonic ringtone versions of speed metal, trying to find exactly the ringtone that expressed my personality with enough irony and enough coolness that I could live with it going off ten times a day. In a quiet room, in a meeting, this phone's gonna go off-- what are they going to hear?'"

Comments

Re:I say this..

[merlin_jim]

I'm saying this on behalf of everyone who hates mobile phones.

FUCK OFF!

I'm saying this to everyone who hates mobile phones

FUCK OFF!

It's annoying as hell to spend a lot of money to have as connected a lifestyle as possible and have people hating on me for it. You know what? If you were important enough for me to be paying attention to, then I wouldn't be picking up my phone while you're talking. Which most cases, if my phone rings mid conversation I call the person back later and send them straight to voice mail.

And you know what else? If you think I'm being rude talking on my phone, guess what? You don't have to talk to me.

Re:A shorter history of ringtones

[uberdave]

Well, in my book Darth Vader's theme trumps the Imperial March. However, neither would become my ringtone (were I to break down and get a cell). I have reserved Darth Vader's theme for a specific purpose. Whenever I get a song looping in my mind, I'll either hum, or listen, to Darth Vader's theme to dislodge it.

I would choose something like the the Thunderbirds theme, or the Babylon 5 door chime, or I would rip Hal saying "Incoming communications... Dave".

Re:I say this..

[vorpal22]

What I AM though is someone who believes that society's basic purpose (from an evolutionary perspective) is to enable human beings to be as connected to each other as possible

Yes, because those conversations that the majority of people have on their cell phones are absolutely brimming with importance. Here's a gem I heard this morning as I fantasized about taking the cell phone from the girl who was screaming into it on my morning bus ride (which I usually hope to be relaxing and start my day off on the right foot) and jamming it deeply within the recesses of her anus, hopefully electrocuting her in the process:

"Yeah... We're just passing by the mall. Mmmm hmmm. I'm wearing my pink jogging pants.... Yeah... *laughter*... Yeah, that was fun. Now I'm by the McDonald's...."

From my experiences with having to listen to people squawk into these devices almost constantly, I have to say that this type of drivel constitutes about 90% of what I overhear.

If you really want to be connected, I suggest you turn off your cell phone before we take it out of your hand and smash it into the ground, turn to someone in your general vicinity, and engage them in polite conversation. I have yet to hear anything resembling compelling evidence that leads me to believe that cell phones are, for 99% of the population, a superior method of communication.