This is the third time I face this decision. The first time, my phone broke beyond repair, and I went to the store to get the replacement (free, as it was still under warranty). That’s when I found out that when I splurged on ringtones, I was buying a license to use that song snippet on that device, and that device only. I went ahead and re-bought the handful of custom ringtones I had. But then over time, I built up quite a collection, assigning people their own special songs. My sister got “We Are Family,” my childhood friend got “You’ve Got a Friend,” my riding instructor got “Whiskey for My Men, Beer for My Horses.”
Never mind the songs I assigned to my online specials. 
This week my phone was stolen on the plane. (Hey, I’m sure I dropped it originally, but if no one turned it in to the lost and found or to security or even just switched it on and called some of my contacts to find out who I was, it was stolen.) And I’m thinking that to buy my ringtones again, it’s going to cost $20. That’s not going to break the bank … but having already bought, and then re-bought, that brings my ringtone expenditures up to what, $50 or so?
Is it worth it? I have become rather Pavolovian about the ringtones, responding with joy or anxiety, depending on which snippet sounds. It’s hard to imagine putting up with the pre-set ringers in the phone, or not customizing the tones to the contact so I know whether to answer it at all.
But. The price of a ringtone is already quadruple what it should be, and this would be the third time for the Lyle tunes.
I guess it boils down to this: how lazy am I? I could probably figure out a way to use my replacement microSD card to house some MP3 snippets from my hard drive. Or use the voice memo feature to record something from my speakers.
I’m just grateful that I back up my contacts online.
5 responses so far ↓
1 bluesfan7 // Dec 1, 2007 at 1:19 am
Take a look at this…
http://lifehacker.com/software/ringtones/geek-to-live–make-a-ringtone-from-any-mp3-212232.php
It’s what I did to get ringtones on mine. I’ve never purchased a tone in my life.
2 Xylitol // Dec 1, 2007 at 8:56 am
It still baffles me that people do buy ringtones, even ones where the prices are in range with buying the whole song online. I suppose it’s a bit more convenient then just making some, but even taking that into consideration, you get more freedom with making custom ones. They can be switched, cut and adjusted as one pleases. Also avoids the above hassle - they can be returned or reconverted to any other phone with custom ring tones and the ability to put them on.
I’m very much the same way with contact rings, assigning little snippets to people so I know who is calling before digging out the phone and looking at CID. Then again, nearly the only place that does call me on my cell is my house or my wife or sons cell. They have the monkey Tuesday theme (including Penns monkey noises), Die Krupps cover of Nothing Else Matters and Bananaphone. I guess I need a more exciting life sometimes..
3 regina lynn // Dec 3, 2007 at 3:00 pm
I resisted ringtones for so long, I must have missed the flurry of geeks making better solutions. It was one late, late night of insomnia where I rolled over, grabbed the phone, bought some ‘credits’ and went nuts with whatever Verizon offered.
Hey, if it’s not sex-tech, I don’t have time to keep up with it. LOL
4 hoffmanbike // Dec 4, 2007 at 10:38 am
what phone is it, if it falls onto bitpims compatibilty list you can upload songs via bitpim and have free ringtones right there for your use.
http://www.bitpim.org
5 Messer // Dec 17, 2007 at 4:16 pm
I’m kind of picky about my ringtones so I make them myself (at http://www.makeownringtone.com) to ensure that I had the exact clip of the song I want. Once complete I transfer them onto my device via email and/or Desktop Manager.