Let’s hear it for cell phone ringtones

There is a lot available now when it comes to the sound your mobile makes when you receive a call. Generic ringtones have a password; personalized ones are definitely in style. The mobile phone ringtone trend started when it became increasingly difficult to distinguish the sound of one’s own instrument in a crowd. At this point, service providers introduced special ringtones to help mobile users recognize theirs. Each one responded to a specific radio frequency signal, and this is still the basis on which all ringtones work.

Human beings have a special affinity for melodic tunes and fading has evolved at a dizzying pace. Soon, separate cell phone ringtones for different people were introduced. After that, adaptations of popular songs and jingles were made available as a paid service. Since this allowed mobile users to customize their instruments to a high degree, it caught on like wildfire and the downloadable ringtone industry has yet to see a slump in the boom.

The latest craze in mobile phone technology is the ease of self-composed ringtones. This is still in its infancy, and the quality of ringtones produced this way isn’t exactly state of the art. While The Crazy Frog ringtone has made waves in the industry of late, the feat likely won’t be duplicated. It was probably just novelty value that launched him to fame in the first place. But as mobile technology evolves, advanced research will no doubt find ways to include synth functions in some models.

Meanwhile, there is a lot of money and advertising to be made from ringtones. Artists release mobile phone ringtone versions of new songs to popularize them and increase album sales, and the advertising market has discovered a whole new world of possibilities through this medium. The extent of its further exploitation in politics and protest remains to be unraveled: one tends to wonder what effect cell phone ringtone technology might have had during the eraser-burning stage of the Vietnam War. Imagine thousands of conscientious objectors silently playing Dylan’s ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ on their mobile phones, in tandem.