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

A shorter history of ringtones

[ackthpt]

A shorter history of ringtones:

Kewl

Neat

Cute

Distracting

Bothersome

Highly Annoying

Obnoxious

Grating

"Hello, is the proctologist available? I need something removed from somewhere."

coming soon: ringtones with thx 5.1 surround, so everyone can enjoy your taste in interruption melodies!

The only ringtone needed EVAR

[Neil Blender]

Vibrate.

The sound of silence

[spywarearcata.com]

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

Among polite people, or, failing that, with a mobile phone jammer enabled--nothing.

Re:The sound of silence

[lukewarmfusion]

At the very most, they might hear my phone's vibration mode.

In college, we used to make a game of calling people in class to see if they remembered to turn their ringers off. Paul lost pretty much every time, rewarding us with a disruptive version of the Notre Dame fight song.

In an important meeting, my phone is on silence mode - no ringer at all. If I didn't do that, I'd never get anything done.

Meetings...

[darkstar949]

They are going to hear that you have too much time on you hands...

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?

beep

[3.09 a hour]

This is why i use the single beep ringer, its short and functional, and acceptable in all areas. As an added benifit, if you left it on somewhere you shouldn't like school or the movies, one beep could be anything and mos tpeople arn't even sure they heard it.

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.

Re:I am baffled.

[SnprBoB86]

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

That is an interesting comment...

Personally, I hate ringtones, but I love to rock out real loud with the wind pouring in the windows on a nice fall or spring day.

The difference is that when I get to a red light, I lower the volume.

I guess it's the same people who leave their phone on loud durring a meeting who don't lower their radio when it could be annoying other people.

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.

I'll take a stab at it

[Swamii]

I spent three days of productive work time listening to polyphonic ringtones...in a meeting, this phone's gonna go off-- what are they going to hear?

"You're fired."

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.

Albatross

[linuxwrangler]

Sometimes I feel like John Cleese yelling, "It's f***ing seabird f***ing flavored".

I want my stereo to play music.

I don't need my phone to play a bad rendition of some tune - I want it to ring.

I want my beer to taste like, um, beer - not razzberries, lemons, etc.

Maybe I've become an old coot. But is sure saves me money.

BTW, I selected the "falling rockets" built in ring on my Nokia. Everyone hates that tone (my wife says, "your phone is crying") so I've never heard that ring on another phone. Perfect - I never have to do the "self-frisk" whenever a phone rings.

Re:What are they going to hear?

[EspoManiac]

Here you are:
http://www.geek.nl/pics/dilbert-arch/dilbert-20030 704.gif