Most of you have heard of iTunes and most of you know what a ringtone is for your cell phone, well today I learned why I will never purchase another ringtone from my cell phone provider.
My cell phone has taken some abuse over the year (LG 9800) and because of that I need to swap it out for a new phone. While at the mall today I tried to swap it out until I heard the salesman tell me I couldn’t transfer my ringtones from my LG 9800 and I would have to re-purchase the ringtones all over again. Blasphemy!
I would like to point out that songs on Apples’ iTunes store sell for $.99 cents, about two thirds the price of a ringtone, my provider sells them for about $1.49. Why would a 10 second clip of a song be a third more then a iTunes song? Don’t you think that more people would purchase more ringtones if they were reasonably priced? Heck, more people would use pay services for mp3′s if songs were cheaper, example: AllOfMp3.com.
If I were to use my service providers logic here, the song purchased with iTunes could not be burned to a cd, copied to or stored on a different computer. The song would ONLY play on the computer I downloaded it from and if my computer crashed I am screwed!
So this brings me to my next point.
There is a plenty ways of getting ringtones on to your phone without having to pay for them, one of the best ways I have found is to use BitPim.
BitPim is a program that allows you to view and manipulate data on many CDMA phones from LG, Samsung, Sanyo and other manufacturers. This includes the PhoneBook, Calendar, WallPapers, RingTones (functionality varies by phone) and the Filesystem for most Qualcomm CDMA chipset based phones.
To view phones are supported by BitPim, go here
If you don’t see your phone listed, check around the net for ways you can transfer files to your phone. Many phones allow you to connect your phone to your computer and transfer a song via USB easily. Some phones only allow you to create custom ringtones by recording the song via the phone and setting the sample as a ringtone, but the quality is sub par by far!
For example, the Motorola PEBL allows you to connect your phone via USB and upload the files and set them as ringers.
As a consumer I am disappointed that my cell phone service provider does not have the technology to support the transfer of ringtones to my new cell phone. Over the past year I have spent over $20 dollars on ringtones, which I have no problem with, but I want to be able to use them at least on my new swapped phone.
What if I purchased a different phone from my provider, why can’t they transfer the ringtones to the new phone, is the technology that complicated? I doubt it!
I want to encourage you to look into how you can take your existing mp3′s and transfer them to your cell phone and make custom ringtones, because if you purchase a ringtone for your cell phone, don’t you think you should be able to use them on another phone? The problem is these companies are making so much money from the sales of ringtones that they can control the space and control the future of “disposable ringtones”.
how much does internet for verizon wireless cost!
If you don’t want to buy a USB cable for your cell phone and have WAP use http://mobstorage.com to transfer your ringtones from your PC to your cell phone.
Smash creator of networks like the Qube has http://www.mobile17.com it sends ringtones in the form of a picture message. For Free. Definitely check it out.
Ringtones n pic is were people waste good amount of money.I’ve only really dealt with motorola phones/att.On my old lg I would upload the file to a sites like gecities n send the link 2 myself in a text message go to web page n save as.Tmobile prolly the worst far as web access cuz of that tzones bs.When I moved up 2 mp3 I just used audio editing program such as total recorder 2 highlight the section of the song u want as ringtone.Quality settings depend on phone.After that I would use moto phone tools.
Its True some phone function are limited by the provider.Basically for the money.Thats y some people downgarde the firmare/unlock the phone 2 use the settings they like.
They know the general public not the most computer literate and/or impatient and/or dont care cuz they have money 2 burn.With all that the say u can dl each ringtone for a fee or buy this overpriced software/usb cable(which u prolly already have if u brought a digital cameraetc).
bluetooth is sooo slow but in the case of adding a few ringtones it might work. Just remember if you buy a USB bluetooth adapter for your computer install the drivers first. Lesson learned here i blew it out in like 3 seconds.
bluetooth
Most modern phones can connect to a PC. What phone do you have?
I actually had to do seem edits on my phone to get the ability to transfer ringtones pictures videos and wallpapers. i don’t know why they limit functionality. Good thing I could “fix” it so I could do with it what I pleased.
What if I can’t connect my phone to the PC? What then?
I found that using MP3′s as tones alot easier then wasting money on fads like ringtones.
cellphonehacks.com has good links for free ringers
I know with Sprint that anything that you have downloaded and is still current/not expired as is the case with some apps and ringers that you can just redownload the content from Sprint since you have already payed for it.
I have the PEBL and I use the motorola software to transfer my files and use as ringtones. I spoke with a project manager for samsung and he indicated that it was verizon that wanted manufacturers to limit functionality in their phones so users cannot transfer files easily using a standard usb cable. Thehn how could they get them to pay for a special cable special hardware special ringtones etc? This is how these people think!!!