November 12, 2003
Cell Phone Ringtones
This article by News Channel 3 is the article I have been waiting for. A simple short story on how ringtones work on your cell phone with a listing of some good sites for downloading ringtones online.
"A ringtone is simply a computer program stored in your cell phone's memory and with most phones, you can change it. By downloading online or in some countries, sending the name of the desired ringtone to a short code by text messaging.
The article also links to a useful and more detailed chapter on ringtones from How Stuff Works.
Of related interest, a post on Ringtonia published several months ago with regard to a company called (at the time) "My Nokia" (and since renamed Phat Tonez). It was the world's first commercial ringtone service launched in 1999 by 23 year old British national James Winsoar, who first realised that a feature built by Nokia into their cell phones -- allowing mobile phone companies to add their logo and ringing sounds -- could be exploited by others, and allowing anyone the freedom to customise their mobile phone with graphics and music. cf James Winsoar, first ringtone provider.
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