The Wide World Of Ringtones
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008There are different sounds made by cellular phones and land line phones. The familiar brrrrring sound of a land line phone is usually the only ringtone they have. On the other hand, cell phones offer a wide variety of different ringtone options.
Cell phone ring tones are commonly used to customize phones. Many cell phones are sold already loaded with a variety of ring tones; a lot of people just stick with the default ring tone, however and whenever their phone rings it makes the same old sound.
Cell phones have a few types of ring tones to choose from. Some are monophonic which means that one note is played at a time, no frills, just a ring tone that alerts you that you have an incoming call. Another type of ring tone for a cell phone is called polyphonic; several notes are played as a musical run. The most popular is the true tone; this ring tone is often taken from a MP3 or WMA music file, usually lasting about 15 seconds and mostly taken from the chorus of a song or the most memorable part. The best part about a true ring tone is you can customize a different ring tone to each caller.
Promotions to sell ring tones are all over the place, super size it, get a free ring tone, add your name to an e-mail list, get a free ring tone, read this article and respond, get a free ring tone, kidding about that last one. Since ring tones are generally just a snippet of a song, charging $0.99 cents for one is an affordable bargain. If your phone has a recordable option, you can record somebody’s voice or a distinct noise and make that your ring tone. Creativity is not just left up to a musical group; you can become your own performance artist.
Since your cell phone is a primary function of life then why not customize it to your tastes? There are so many ring tones available you can have one for every person who gets the privilege to be on your SIM card. Depending on who is on your cell phone contact list, you can give each person their own ring tone based on a song that you identify with them. College fight songs, wedding songs, just about any song you can think of they’ve got a true tone available.
Personally, I have five ringtones on my cell phone and I use one for my wife, another for my tech-savvy eight year old son and yet another for a college friend of mine. When you know who’s calling, you never have to deal with callers who called the wrong number or a salesperson.
It’s fun to pick out ring tones for the different people on your SIM card. People always talk about how technology has made the world a more impersonal place - well, cell phones are one aspect of our tech-obsessed culture where creativity and personality are alive and well!
You can create your own ring tone or buy one from a subscription site. Be careful with the subscription site though, you don’t want to get stuck with a bunch of ring tones that don’t reflect what you want to say or hear. There are some subscription sites that allow you benefit from their research based on your preferences. Sorry, I’ve got to cut this short, the ring tone titled, “From This Moment” by Shania Twain tells me my wife is calling.