Ringtones Must Have


Just as land phones changed from purely functional pieces of equipment to ones shaped like footballs and Mickey Mouse, it didn?t take long for cell phones to follow suit and become more novelty than function. And with technological advances, those novelties can be fairly extreme.

A ring tone is a simple function. It is the sound that indicates an incoming call. And for years all that was available in a land line or a cell phone was a basic ring. But technology soon allowed for a greater variety of sound and tones. Cell phones began offering preprogrammed ring tones with different combinations of rings. But they were all fairly basic.

Today ring tones are used to express individual style. They can showcase a favorite song or artist or pay tribute to a favorite movie or TV program. Cell phone companies typically have a basic selection of ring tones available on the phone when it is purchased. Additional ring tones have to be purchased.

Customers can visit the cell phone company?s website and preview the optional ring tones. When they are ready to purchase, they enter information about the model of cell phone they have. Not all cell phones are equipped to handle the newer ring tones. This feature becomes a selling point for customers wanting the newest technology.

If the cell phone can handle the ring tone, then the purchase proceeds and the customer makes a credit card payment or has the charge placed on their next bill. Then the ring tone is sent to the cell phone as an incoming message. Independent companies also offer ring tones and backgrounds. The process works basically the same way through a website.

A ring tone refers to a either a basic ring sound or a song that is played on the simple keyboard. Think about a favorite song converted to an instrumental and then played by a beginning piano student ? that?s a ring tone. True tones are the actual song performed by the original artist or in some cases by a cover band. True tones require more advanced cell phones than ring tones do.

Both ring tones and true tones run the gamut on style and allow the user to customize his or her phone with choices from country music, rock and roll, TV theme songs, 70s and 80s songs and current hits. The ring tone can be the theme from Charlie?s Angels or Dallas or perhaps a favorite song from the Beastie Boys. The choices seem endless. The websites will allow you to preview the ring tone or true tone before you purchase. This will let you know what portion of the song you are getting and whether or not you like the quality.

Today?s cell phones contain more and more computer technology. And like the home computer, more advanced cell phones now offer a selection of backgrounds. Purely for entertainment value, the background is the image that appears on the screen of the cell phone. Like ring tones, cell phones now come with a selection of basic backgrounds to choose from. Additional styles can be purchased either from the cell phone company or from independent companies.

The variety for backgrounds covers virtually any hobby or personal interest. National heritage, favorite cars, celebrities, soccer stars, animals, football, girls in bikinis, girls in less than bikinis and more can be used as a background. And now since most cell phones also come equipped with a built-in camera feature, you can take a picture of your child, your pet, your kitchen sink ? whatever you like ? and use it as your background.