Ringtone - Reactions Against Ringtones

Reactions Against Ringtones

Etiquette regarding ringtones has been one of the most controversial aspects of cell phone culture. Although often played for aesthetic value to alert a recipient of an incoming call, some individuals around the recipient could consider the ringing noise to be a disturbance. Employers have been known to ban ringtones at work; one Australian company even goes so far as to fine its employees each time their ringtone sounds during a meeting. In another survey of cell-phone owning professionals, 18 percent felt that the worst cell phone etiquette offense was to cycle through a phone's ringtone list, playing them one by one, while riding public transportation. Another reaction towards the ringtones is that a certain culture has formed through the ringtones. People have started to identify themselves with their selected ringtones just as they did with their selection of mobile phones. "As was the case with those who take the call, musical ringtones are also designed with an eye toward such public space situations, so as to provide a kind of treat to co-present, potentially disturbed, bystanders" (Licoppe 148). People have specified even further what type of person they are not just by choosing a phone, but by alerting everyone around of what kind of music they like to hear. In a way, people are sending a message out to become distinct and stand out from the crowd. However, there is also debate that ringtones are selected to become less noticeable and fit right in with the crowd. "Some users thus deliberately choose their ringtone from a set of shared cultural resources...which they know would be recognized by many people. Such a choice of musical ringtones is oriented toward the way they will be received by copresent parties" (Licoppe 148). Since the tunes are easily recognized, people are more likely to avoid it and not be distracted.

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Polytonic

A polytonic ring tone can consist of several notes at a time. The first polytonic ring tones used sequenced recording methods such as MIDI. Such recordings specify what synthetic instrument should play a note at a given time, and the actual instrument sound is dependent upon the playback device. Later, synthesized instruments could be included along with the composition data, which allowed for more varied sounds beyond the built-in sound bank of each phone.

Truetone

A truetone (also known as "realtone", "mastertone", "superphonic ringtone" or "audio recording") is simply an audio recording, typically in a common format such as MP3 or AAC. Truetones, which are often excerpts from songs, have become popular as ring tones. The first truetone service was started by au on December 2002. "My Gift to You" by Chemistry was the first song to be distributed as a truetone.

Sing tone

A "sing tone" is a ring tone created in karaoke style, combining a user’s recorded voice (adjusted to be both in time and in tune) with a backing track.

Video Ringtone

A video ringtone is a piece of video content used as a ringtone (typically on 3G phones). Any video may be used, but usually music video excerpts are used. The best examples of these use sound and video track that loops seamlessly. It is possible to use personalised video ringtones against contacts in the phone to provide video and audio Caller Identification.