The Evolution In Ringtone Technology

With the advent of cellular phones, ringtone technology has developed to provide a wide variety of tones to alert us to incoming calls we might receive. This has extended to home phones as well although we most often associate their use with cellphones. Here is more interesting info.

In its basic terms, a ringtone is a computer program which is stored on a cellphone’s memory chip. The program is designed to tell the microprocessor what the speaker should play when an incoming call is received.

A ringtone capable phone already has a range of tones stored in memory. The ringtone program therefore tells the microprocessor which notes to play and in what order and speed. The ability to adjust these variables enables the phone to produce an infinite number of ringtones.

An example of the kind of programming which can be made to produce ringtones is the Ringing Tone Text Transfer Language (RTTTL) format which was originally developed by Nokia.

In order to use a particular ringtone, the programming information has to be loaded into your phone’s memory. This can be done is a number of different ways. One option is to transfer the info from your PC to your phone through a cable connection. Or some phones have the ability to download this information directly from a mobile based website. And another common method is through infrared communication.

The advent of web based ringtone programs represents an excellent revenue stream for the companies which create and distribute them. Many people like to use a unique or customized ringtone and will gladly pay for it.

You can typically find a great many ringtones available for sale from different cellphone carriers. They make it very easy to purchase and transfer these ringtones to a particular phone for incorporation. The revenue these cellphone carriers can make on the sale of ringtones is very attractive.

There are also independent companies which sell customized ringtones. In some cases the ringtones are advertised as being free but they often require the user to either purchase other services or sign up for enhanced products or services. In other words it can be a marketing promotion and the cost of the "free" ringtones is subsidized by the advertiser involved.

In any case the use of ringtones has evolved into a very important part of the whole cellphone experience. Users can provide a unique way for them to quickly identify incoming calls through a ringtone based on their particular tastes and preferences.