Did you know that the first ringtone was invented in 1994? That's so far back most US cell phones were car mounted or Motorola brick phones that didn't even support multiple ringers. The US has always lagged behind the European companies in terms of cell phone technology. This is mainly based on the large US footprint which requires major tower upgrades to support new phones and features.
In 1994, Nokia featured "Gran Vals" by Francisco Tarrega on it's wireless phones. The classical melody became so popular that it became a standard ring tone in the Nokia line of cell phones. With the success of "Gran Vals", Nokia began introducing other ringtones by 1997. A major breakthrough occurred in 2002 when Nokia produced the 3510 model that supported 4-polyphonic tones. By the end of the year, this was expanded to support 24-polyphinic tones, although this was eventually reduced to 16. By now people had the chance to customize their cell phone.
In a unique twist, 2005 became the year that the ringback tone was created. With the ringback tone you can customize the ringing sound someone hears when they call you. Most phones support the ability to assign different ringback tones to specific people in your address book.Complimentary Ringtones
Today many phones support monophonic, polyphonic, and mp3 (or real/true) ringtones. Millions of cell phones are sold every year and they only come in a few basic models and colors. The only real way to customize you cell phone is to add a custom ringtone. This helps express your own personality as well as distinguish your phone ringer from others' when in a crowded room.
Complimentary Ringtones
Differences In Ringtone Types
Monophonic: Monophonic ringtones are the original type of ringtones. Older phones may only have monophonic support. A monophonic ring tone is one that uses a series of beeps to create a unique sound. The beeps can vary in pitch and duration to create a familiar sound.
Polyphonic: Polyphonics ringtones are created with multiple melodies. This ringtones are more advanced that monophonic ringtones and provide better music quality. Polyphonic ring tones where adapted from MIDI sound files. For this reason they can only reproduce musical sounds, so realistic sounds such as musical vocals, sound effects, and animal noises can't be reproduced. Most new phones support polyphonic ring tones.
MP3: The most advanced type of ringtone is the mp3 ring tone. This is also commonly referred to as realtones, music tones, or true tones. Once the ringtone became a popular method of customizing your cell phone, most new phone support mp3 ringtones. This ringtones are created from real music, so they are nearly CD quality. These are the only types of ringers that will reproduce vocal sounds and sound effects accurately.
Top Ringtones as of January 11th, 2007
In addition to the 10 Bonus Ringtones, other top ringers are:
Mosquito Ringtone
Justin Timberlake: My Love
Akon: Smack That
Fergie: Fergalicious
Snow Patrol: Chasing Cars
Beyonce: Irreplaceable
Ringtone Providers and Cell Carriers
Depending on your cell carrier, different ringtone providers may apply. Not all ringtone providers have service with each carrier. When selecting a carrier, such as Sprint, Verizon, Alltel and Cingular pay close attention to the types of services they offer. Custom ring tones, wallpaper and games are available for most large providers. Follow one of the above links to obtain 10 Bonus Ringtones.
Ringtones are provided by providers such as DaDa Mobile, Blinko, Spiceymint, and Funmobile. By selecting your carrier above, you will be directed to the provider that has the highest compatibility for you cell carrier.
Complimentary Ringtones
By entering your cell phone number, you will receive a SMS text message that will check your cell phone for ringtone compatibility. Entering the PIN number that you receive will enable access to 10 bonus ring tones.