Mobile Ringtones
Like computers, cars and PDAs, cell phones started
out as purely functional pieces of technology, but
quickly evolved plenty of fun frills to keep their
users entertained. Today's phones have built-in video
games, specialized background pictures, switch able
faceplates and, of course, customisable ringtones.
A ringtone version of your new favourite song does
serve some purpose, of course -- it lets you distinguish
your own phone's ring from other phones ringing around
you -- but more than anything else, it's a chance
to add personality to technology.
Ringtones outsell CD singles in the UK, Germany,
France, Italy and other markets. They account for
60% of all mobile content downloads. Real Tones, a
piece of real music in your phone, have already been
launched. Caller Tunes, replacing the century old
‘ring, ring’ sound when you call another
phone, were launched in December in the UK, Germany
in February (as Sound Logos) and in the Czech Republic
in March.
The central "brain" of a cell phone is
a small microprocessor. Just like the microprocessor
in a computer, this unit controls everything that
the cell phone does, working from information stored
in the phone's memory.
At its core, a ringtone is simply a computer program
stored on the cell phone's memory chip. This program's
sole purpose in life is to tell the microprocessor
what the phone's speaker system should do when the
phone's receiver picks up an incoming call.
Ringtone-capable phones already have a range of notes
stored in memory (that is, they include information
on speaker vibration frequencies that will produce
particular tones). The ringtone program only has to
tell the microprocessor which of these notes to play,
in which order and at what speed. By adjusting these
variables, the microprocessor can play an infinite
number of ringtones.
The clearest example of this sort of programming
language is the Ringing Tone Text Transfer Language
(RTTTL) format, developed by Nokia. In order to enable
a ringtone on your phone, you just have to get the
appropriate program into the phone's memory.
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