Ringtone Producer

One person’s favourite cellular ringtone is another person’s major annoyance. Yes, in very much the same way a writer stating the obvious during an opening sentence is many a reader’s major annoyance. Tell you something you do NOT know, right?

In 2006, a newspaper survey conducted in the United States found that cellular ringtones were the main pet peeves for office workers, which is what led many American companies to institute cell phone bans at the office during working hours.

If those office workers were annoyed by their colleagues’ ideas of cool ringtones, then this will drive them over the edge: On April 10, Arphiola, a leading B2B (Business to Business) Mobile Content Provider, announced the official launch of their ‘Out-Of-Tune’ ringtones. And yes, ‘Out-Of-Tune’ means exactly that: these ringtones are “ugly and annoying re-productions of popular songs and TV and movie themes” (Arphiola’s own words).

As if it isn’t enough that one person’s idea of a hit song makes another person’s ears spontaneously bleed, without anyone even taking the trouble to alter the aforementioned cringe-worthy hit into cacophonic dissonance! But according to Arphiola spokesperson Bjorn-Ivar, the ringtones are “an excellent way of demonstrating that you are really, really tired of a song.”

Are parents of teenagers their major supporters then?

Unfortunately, there were more than enough people during Arphiola’s trial-period who thought that this was a good idea, thus turning Arphiola’s Out-Of-Tune ringtones into such a success, that it is now being officially launched!

Hopefully Arphiola can find a way to enter into a partnership with the makers of the mosquito ringtone. This ringtone has also been nicknamed ‘teen buzz’ because it can apparently only be heard by kids and young adults. Due to a naturally occurring medical condition that affects most people over the age of 24, the mosquito ringtone is inaudible by adults. Most adults start to lose the ability to hear tones over 17khz and will usually not be able to hear tones higher than 16khz by the time they are 30. The mosquito ringtones plays off this medical fact and allows teenagers to clearly hear their cell phone ringing while they are in places they don’t want their phones to be heard by adults (i.e. in a classroom, in a church, etc…).

The tones are available in four different audio formats as well as in over a dozen different high pitched frequencies. More than 3 million teens have downloaded the ringtone from www.FreeMosquitoRingtones.org since 2006, making it the most popular destination for teens looking for a ringtone that parents and teachers can’t hear.

Speaking of things that appeal to teens: the social networking site MySpace announced at the beginning of this month that they are going to begin selling ringtones. The News Corp.-owned social networking site revealed it reached an agreement with Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and Sony BMG to begin selling music downloads directly through artist pages, ringtones and concert tickets. No word on when the service will be available or how much it will cost.

For those who have been blissfully downloading the ringtones of their choice from websites where they don’t have to pay for it, an article published on April 10 in the LA Chronicle warns that it might cost them their privacy. According to the article, “a reputable site will not sell your personal information to third parties, and will state this to its customers. If the site you are downloading the ringtone from does not specifically say that they won´t sell, or rent your information to third parties, chances are they likely will. Moreover, you should be aware that many free sites will still sell your information, even when they claim they won´t.”

But if the possibility that your personal information might end up in the hands of pesky telemarketers isn’t enough of a deterrent, the article also warns that some of these freebie ringtones sites also include spyware in the ringtones, which then downloads itself into your computer or phone.

The best way to avoid this, is to acquire your ringtones from reputable sources (like the phone manufacturers themselves) and to only buy from websites implicitly stating that they won’t peddle your personal information.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 1:22 pm and is filed under Ringtone Trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.