What is it with ringtones?

[BassheadJazz]

While I definitely find the whole purchasing ringtone charade getting to be very annoying (and I expect to see a backlash in a year or so), I kind of understand why people opt for them. Both of my 'rents use the standard phone ringtones and there's almost always an occasion where it sounds like their phone is ringing but it turns out to be someone else. On the other hand, I can't stand it when people have obnoxiously loud, crappy quality ringtones that could potentially scare someone a mile away.

 

[fatcat28037]

Whatever comes with the phone that sounds most like a home phone.

 

[Superpredator]

I'm almost 100% with you, Wodgy. My friend has a Curb Your Enthusiasm tone. That one I completely understand. It makes me happy every time I hear it.

More and more what you consume is who you are to most people, and ring tones are a way of telling strangers around you who you are. Many times I've seen young people with one unique ring tone or another take a call, and they look up at the people around them, palpably wanting to be noticed. If you heard the NPR story about a restaurant critic who traveled the country asking people in restaurants to share a bite of their food (to which he got an unexpected overwhelmingly positive response), it's kind of clear that we are lonely in this modern world where strangers don't really interact with each other, and we enjoy it when others appreciate us for our taste. The ring tone is a form of expression for people who aren't very good at expressing themselves.

 

[Assorted]

I'm not a ringtone buyer, but I'm a ringtone customizer. I use the chorus "Jesum! Jesum! Jesum von Na-zareth, Jesum von Na-zareth!!!!" from Bach St. John's Passion Recitative: Jesus ging mit zeinen juungern - Chorus.

 

[Sh0eBoX]

i am also a ringtone customizer. since my phone takes microSD cards... i'm able to edit a clip from a song that i have and put it on the card, then save it as a ringtone (by sending it in a PIX message to a fake # and saving it from my outbox... hehe). i would never pay the amount of money that they charge for ringtones, at least not more than one or two if i had a phone that i couldn't customize my tones on. i find it to be outrageous how much phone companies charge for crappy sounding audio clips!

but i like custom ringtones as it lets me know that i'm ringing and not someone else who might coincidentally ahve the same ringtone as me had i used the pre-set ones... and also putting little snippets of my favorite songs can just give me a little boost in my day when i've gone so long without music

(sounds dumb i know, but i do bob when i hear my phone ringing... as opposed to answering it ASAP haha)

 

[goldenratiophi]

Yeah, I just leave mine on vibrMY MILKSHAKE BRINGS ALL THE BOYS TO THE YARD whoops let me get that...

 

[kramer5150]

I dont get it either

 

[Prozakk]

I have different ringtones for each regular caller. That way if I don't want to talk to person "x", I don't have to get the phone out of my pocket.

 

[roastpuff]

I gots myself "Bananaphone" as a ring tone.

I don't buy no stupid contemporary song... that's just plain dumb! No taste, those fools.

 

[tru blu]

The mechanical, pling-plang-plong-sounding facscimiles of songs seem a little ridiculous to me, but since my phone has a decent mp3 player (and speaker; friends always comment on it), I'm able to configure the tracks in my music library as ringtones. I assign different tunes to different numbers, so I can distinguish my wife's call (a snippet from the violinist Gidon Kremer's version of Enescu's "Impressions d'Enfance") from someone I might not want to talk to (the default ring is the subtle snare-drum intro of "Miles Runs The Voodoo Down"). My last phone was always on vibrate, but I've found I don't much mind hearing 15-20 seconds of, say, the Jimmy Giuffre 3's "Cry, Want". And so far I haven't attracted much attention.

 

[beemer]

I concur on the lameness of ring tones. I was in line at fry's (a local computer store) and there were two females standing behind me in line just a couple of days ago. They were going back and fourth about their ring tones , how one had the kind that would only play midi and the other's played mp3. They were just fascinated and obsessed by it. I don't mind if you have an obsession, just don't force me to listen to your ghetto blaster while I'm waiting in line.

 

[AuroraProject]

My last cell came with no ringtones that sounded like a phone. All odd musical, weird noises. I had to find and download a normal tone! I can't stand the whole musical ringtone fad.

 

[Assorted]

Cellphone musical ringtones are fine for me.

But just last week I discovered my phone cordless had built in musical ringtones. My gosh, it had:

Well tempered clavier book 1 prelude in C
Paganini's 24th
Vivaldi Spring
and something I can't remember now...

I wonder who'd use such ringtones.

 

[F107plus5]

My wife and kids....and Grandkids!...are all into swapping around and getting new ringtones to the point of having trouble figuring out whose phone is actually ringing!

The only time I have a problem is if a commercial for my cell phone provider comes on TV. I left mine just the way it came from the factory, so when that ad comes on TV it sounds just like "my" phone ringing!

 

[bhd812]

i think ring tone are cool with the younger people of today.

i stick to the common nextel ringtone myself cause its loud! i tried a few out on my phone i made but never liked the volume..or if someone was calling me i did not like then i would not like the song. i heard a awesome ring tone once, it was the old rotary dial ring..blew my mind really!