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

The only ringtone needed EVAR

[Neil Blender]

Vibrate.

Ringtones are one of the dumbest things to pay for

[hsmith]

I mean, $2-3 a PIECE? who the hell pays that? I am quite content with the standard ringer on my LG. It is a damn phone!

The ringtone craze

[RaguMS]

Seriously, I do not understand the level of popularity that ringtones have acheived - especially considering that they cost money! A cellphone plan costs enough already. I use a preprogrammed ringtone on my Audiovox CDM-4000 phone (1st gen CDMA for anyone unfamiliar with the particular phone), and while it's a bit cheesy I can instantly recognize that this tone is coming from my phone and my phone only - It's been ringing like this for almost 5 years. If I were to change ring tones often, not only would it be time&money consuming but I would also lose that mental 'training' of what my phone sounds like when it rings in a room full of people with ringing cellphones.
Yes, I do know people who have a ring tone for everyone in their phonebook. Perhaps it is useful to them other than being a fashion statement (since caller ID also identifies incoming callers) but is it really worth paying for?

What are they going to hear?

[sulli]

In a quiet room, in a meeting, this phone's gonna go off-- what are they going to hear?

Everyone else hollering "PUT YOUR FUCKING PHONE ON VIBRATE!"

Damn I hate ringtones.

I am baffled.

[bigtallmofo]

From the proliferation of (what I consider to be) annoying ring tones, I really feel alone in the world with my lowly silent setting.

For the life of me, I can not figure out why someone would take the time to set up a custom ringtone - let alone pay for one.

I guess it's the same people that blare their radio in the car with the windows rolled all the way down.

Vibrate mode

[BeBoxer]

Which is exactly why I have mine set to vibrate mode. The reality is, during a meeting, nobody gives a shit what kind of music I like. Cell phone use is intrusive enough without the addition of "look how cool I am" ring tones.

Just shows how rude some users can be

[ageoffri]

"In a quiet room, in a meeting, this phone's gonna go off-- what are they going to hear?" This attitude really bugs me. If you aren't turning your phone to vibrate/silent only in a meeting, in a movie theater, at a family dinner then you are just flat out rude.

Of course I've got a new one to add to rude cell phone use. In a movie theater if you have a bright screen on your phone, cover it with your hand so it doesn't distract other people.

Though on the good side technology is getting to the point where it can effectively block cell phone signals so since it is obvious people won't police themselves it is only a matter of time before more and more public places like movie theaters block it for them.

Paying for ringtones?

[retro128]

I refuse to pay for ringtones. You go on these sites and most of them are crap anyway. For the large part they are just sound clips from the latest teen gangsta sensation. And they charge, what, $5 a pop for this garbage?

I have a Motorola v551 which is able to interpret general MIDI files and MP3s. Adding ringtones is as simple as jumping on a MIDI archive or ripping one of my CDs, truncating the song down to the part I want, and transferring them to the phone with the data cable.

Buying ringtones is right up there with paying for pr0n in my book.

My Ideal Cellphone Tone

[Greyfox]

Is a baby crying. It starts out soft, but eventually evolves into a full blown tantrum if the phone isn't answered. Symbolic on so many levels...

I believe that every cellphone on the planet should have just 1 fixed ringtone that cannot be changed. It should be some guy announcing in a loud and obnoxious voice, "LOOK EVERYONE! I HAVE A CELLPHONE AND I'M AN *ASSHOLE*!" Then most people would keep their cellphone on silent and the issue wouldn't ever come up.

Re:wow

[plover]

What I don't understand is why people purchase ringtones at all when almost every phone I've dealt with accepts MIDI formatted music of one type or another.

There are websites that have have huge collections of MIDI. There's everything from TV themes to pop music to automated Mozart minuette generators. Grab one, shove it in your phone and begin annoying people immediately. It's just not that hard. $2.00 seems usurious.

This is depressing

[Quiet_Desperation]

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.

Might I suggest "Useful Idiot" by Tool.

In a quiet room, in a meeting, this phone's gonna go off-- what are they going to hear?

Well, in my neck of the woods, if they hear anything other than the gentle buzz of a phone set to vibrate, it'll be the distant sound of your phone shattering into a thousand pieces on the sidewalk four stories below.