At one time you could assign ringtones to your contacts so you could tell who was calling without looking. When Android made this feature unavailable I stopped buying ringtones. Just my personal experience
Plus... people have been able for many years to create their own ringtones from digital files (or imported CDs) that they already own. Why would anyone pay $1.29 when they could spend less than a minute making their own ringtone?
This is what I came to say. It's not that people aren't still using custom ringtones. They're just either making their own or using apps that will take a song from your playlist and convert the chorus or other key moment into a ringtone for you.
I can’t figure out how to make my own anymore (iPhone). I have to purchase them. I like ringtones to assign different family members. I also have different sounds assigned to text messages- wish I could make short song snippets for those. For me, it’s more a means of assigning and identifying others, not my own personality
This was a fabulous piece! I'm such a music obsessive that I really can't tolerate any of the standard ones, so I still use a custom edit of Bowie's 1984 as my ringtone. I first installed it on a BlackBerry in the early days of this century and have had it on every phone since. While I often have my phone on silent and don't get that many calls, the ringtone still brings me joy. Nothing could make me hate 1984, but I have occasionally twitched for my phone while listening to Diamond Dogs! P.S. Because I have a dark sense of humor, when I worked for a hospital, I spent $1.29 to install Hospital Shootout from Isaac Hayes' Truck Turner soundtrack on my work phone. No one ever knew...
At one time you could assign ringtones to your contacts so you could tell who was calling without looking. When Android made this feature unavailable I stopped buying ringtones. Just my personal experience
It's not unavailable. All of my favorite contacts still have their individual ringtones and I'm on the latest version of Android.
So how do you assign the ringtones?
Plus... people have been able for many years to create their own ringtones from digital files (or imported CDs) that they already own. Why would anyone pay $1.29 when they could spend less than a minute making their own ringtone?
This is what I came to say. It's not that people aren't still using custom ringtones. They're just either making their own or using apps that will take a song from your playlist and convert the chorus or other key moment into a ringtone for you.
I can’t figure out how to make my own anymore (iPhone). I have to purchase them. I like ringtones to assign different family members. I also have different sounds assigned to text messages- wish I could make short song snippets for those. For me, it’s more a means of assigning and identifying others, not my own personality
This was a fabulous piece! I'm such a music obsessive that I really can't tolerate any of the standard ones, so I still use a custom edit of Bowie's 1984 as my ringtone. I first installed it on a BlackBerry in the early days of this century and have had it on every phone since. While I often have my phone on silent and don't get that many calls, the ringtone still brings me joy. Nothing could make me hate 1984, but I have occasionally twitched for my phone while listening to Diamond Dogs! P.S. Because I have a dark sense of humor, when I worked for a hospital, I spent $1.29 to install Hospital Shootout from Isaac Hayes' Truck Turner soundtrack on my work phone. No one ever knew...
Came here to say just this! Fantastic piece. Chuckled where I was meant to and raised my eyebrows with pursed lips where I was meant to be impressed.
Shocked to see a discussion of ringtones without mentioning Akon, the Guiness Book of World Record holder for most ringtones sold: https://hiphopdx.com/news/akon-explains-lucrative-ringtone-success/