There is a lot available now by ways of the sound your mobile makes when you receive a call. Generic ringtones are passe – customized ones are definitely in. The trend for cell phone ringtones started when it became increasingly difficult to distinguish one’s own instrument’s sound while in crowds. At this point, service providers introduced special ringtones to help mobile users recognize their own. Each responded to a specific radio-frequency signal, and this is still the basis on which all ringtones work.
The human being has a special affinity to melodic tunes and the fad evolved at a rapid rate. Soon, separate cell phone ringtones for different callers were introduced. After that, adaptations of popular songs and jingles were made available as a paid service. Since this enabled mobile users to personalize their instruments to a high degree, this 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 facility of self-composing ringtones. This is still in its infancy, and the quality of ringtones produced in this manner is not exactly cutting-edge. While the ringtone The Crazy Frog has made waves in the industry lately, the feat is not likely to be duplicated. It was probably just novelty value that shot it to fame in the first place. But as mobile technology evolves, advanced research will doubtlessly find ways of including synthesizer features into some models.
Meanwhile, there is a lot of money and publicity to be gained by ringtones. Artists release cell phone ringtone versions of new songs to popularize them and boost album sales, and the advertisement market has discovered a whole new world of possibilities via this medium. The scope for its further exploitation in politics and protest has yet to be fathomed – one tends to wonder what effect cell phone ringtone technology could have had during the draft-burning stage of the Vietnam War. Picture thousands of conscientious objectors wordlessly playing Dylan’s ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ on their mobiles – in tandem.