Ed Brill

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1. 1  Bill http://flickr.com/photos/zizzy | 12/17/2006 10:27:04 AM

   At least your carrier doesn't disable the ability to create and download your own ringtones to your phone. Verizon cripples the bluetooth and other features of their phones to prevent users from doing this. They've manage to come up with a 'legitimate' excuse for doing this, but it's really about the money. Lucky for me, I made sure I purchased a phone that I could hack to resurrect the features killed by Verizon.

1. 2  Stephan H. Wissel http://www.wissel.net/ | 12/17/2006 12:16:53 PM

   Well 7-11 charges more for a coke than the supermarked around the corner. Let us have a look at the effort:

   Buy a ringtone: 10 sec

   Rip a song from a CD: 5min

   Find a mp3/wav - Ringtone converter software (or mp3 editor if your phone plays mp3) : 1h (incl. get used to it)

   Snip the exact ringtone (5-7 tries): 20 min

   ... multiply by your hourly rate ... $2.5 is dirt cheap.

   :-) stw

   P.S.: Of course it is a total ripp-off for the sound crazy teenage target audience.

1. 3  Mike Robinson http://www.invcs.com | 12/17/2006 5:36:58 PM

   Sounds like the old 80s/90s arguement- why do I pay more for the low-cal/fat free version of a food product. Since there's less I should pay less than the high-cal/fat included version?

1. 4  kerr  | 12/17/2006 7:11:51 PM

   Why anyone buys ring tones is beyond me. That and voting on tv shows. Of course there is a leason here. Just because I can't see the market, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. There's big money to be made spotting those markets before other people do.

   On the subject of ringtones though, I'm sure the RIAA would claim that the licencing for a download to be listened to privatly is different to a ringtone that will be a "public performance". Aaaaarrggghhhh!!!!

1. 5  Bob Brodsky  | 12/17/2006 8:19:38 PM

   Ed,

   Its all part of the Dumming Down of society.

   Bob

1. 6  Keith Brooks http://kbmsg.blogspot.com | 12/17/2006 8:22:04 PM

   and on wall street every corner they are giving away ring tones with every neck tie purchase.

   :-p

1. 7  Charles Robinson http://cubert-codepoet.blogspot.com | 12/17/2006 9:49:48 PM

   Artists have realized they can make more off a single ring tone than they can by selling their soul, internal organs and first born children to a record label, and they are responding accordingly. Since artists make more money off ring tones they're trying to make everything a ring tone and the end result is disposable music (arguably for a disposable generation). It's a sad, sad situation and it's growing more and more absurd.

1. 8  Tim Leach  | 12/18/2006 3:40:05 AM

   I'm more concerned by the fact that you're considering "Fergalicious" as a ringtone !

1. 9  Volker Weber http://vowe.net/about | 12/18/2006 4:05:31 AM

   Charles, not artists. The music industry.

1. 10  Richard Fenwick  | 12/18/2006 4:56:15 AM

   @8, your not kidding....Fergalicious oh dear!!

1. 11  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 12/18/2006 6:51:33 AM

   Um, er, it was just an example ringtone.

1. 12  Charles Robinson http://cubert-codepoet.blogspot.com | 12/18/2006 8:49:12 AM

   @9 - I'm not blaming artists, they're simply following the money. And it's not entirely the labels' fault, either. They're providing what consumers are asking for and pricing it at what the market will bear. As Bob said, it's a glimpse into the dumbing down of society.

1. 13  Joel M. Phelan  | 12/18/2006 9:21:58 AM

   I'm just happy to know that I'm not the only one waiting to get a Pearl. I tried the "go-to-the-store" route and have been waiting to get one for a week, so I finally became resigned to the wait and an ordering it from Cingular's website as part of my switch away from SprinTel. *Ring Tone Disclamer: My Nextel is ALWAYS on vibrate because I hate ring tones for the reason Charles mentioned. <rant>If I WANT to hear the techno version of the 5th Symphony, I have it on my i-pod. I don't want to hear it blaring from someone's phone as I walk past them (and before they click the little button and scream "HELLO" because the person on the other end might not be able to hear them clearly enough if they don't alert the entire street. </rant> Ah well, now if only my pearl would come, life would be complete... or at least the bliss of not having anyone call me would be completely over.

1. 14  John http://www.phonesherpa.com | 12/18/2006 1:08:42 PM

   Hi Ed, I’m John Manning, the marketing guy at Phone Sherpa. We have built a fan base of people that want to have multiple ringtones and wallpapers on their phone without breaking the bank. We offer a $19.99 per year unlimited use package and the average usage over time is about twelve ringtones per month. There are three easy steps: first you upload a file, say an MP3, then you select the part of the song you want as your ringtone and lastly, you send the file to your phone. A big part of the reason for using Phone Sherpa is soundbite economics but also the ability to customize the exact part of the song you want as a ringtone. We'd love to have you try it out and let us know what you think. Happy holidays.

1. 15  david racicot  | 12/18/2006 2:32:18 PM

   @11. sure it was Ed :-)

1. 16  Brian Benz http://www.softwaresoapbox.com | 12/19/2006 1:00:51 AM

   Engadget had a good post on this a while back, using xingtone: { Link }

   As for Fergie, I'll watch the videos :o, but won't willingly listen to the music....

1. 17  peterdehaas.com http://www.peterdehaas.com | 12/20/2006 5:28:55 AM

   I am with you Tim on this one. :-)

1. 18  William Volk http://www.mynumo.com | 12/20/2006 1:39:24 PM

   If you want to create ringtones AND sell them with "phone bill" billing, MyNuMo is worth checking out.

   You can also create mobile wallpapers and videos.

   Having the ability to buy a ringtone charged to your phone bill is a good thing.

   { Link }

1. 19  Tim Haugen  | 12/24/2006 11:17:53 AM

   ... But with your Blackberry Pearl, just pop an edited MP3 on your site somewhere, hit the link with the Blackberry and click save....