In the Year of the Golden Pig, the Great and Powerful Howard Brazee
declared:
>
> Quite often I will go to iTunes, check to see if a song I want to buy
> is protected - and if it is, I don't buy.

Have you tried Amazon's MP3 music store? It's all DRM-free with VBR
(usually between 192 and 256kbps), and the prices are on average
cheaper than iTunes. The selection is much better than iTunes
DRM-free store.

> I just don't "get" the huge market for ringtones. But then I'm not a
> high school kid, and I haven't actually heard a phone ring using them.
> My ringtone is the one I found (included with my phone) that was the
> least likely to be noticed by anybody but me.

The main point of ringtones for adults is that you can assign
different tones to each person in your address book, so you can
decide whether you want to answer without looking at the caller ID.
If you have more people in your address book than ringtones your
phone came with, you need to get more.

--
Sean O'Hara <http://diogenes-sinope.blogspot.com>
Ace: So I burnt the house down.
Doctor: Any regrets?
Ace: Yes. I wish I'd blown it up instead!
-Doctor Who

Sean O'Hara wrote:
> In the Year of the Golden Pig, the Great and Powerful Howard Brazee
> declared:
>> Quite often I will go to iTunes, check to see if a song I want to buy
>> is protected - and if it is, I don't buy.
>
> Have you tried Amazon's MP3 music store? It's all DRM-free with VBR
> (usually between 192 and 256kbps), and the prices are on average
> cheaper than iTunes. The selection is much better than iTunes
> DRM-free store.
>
>> I just don't "get" the huge market for ringtones. But then I'm not a
>> high school kid, and I haven't actually heard a phone ring using them.
>> My ringtone is the one I found (included with my phone) that was the
>> least likely to be noticed by anybody but me.
>
> The main point of ringtones for adults is that you can assign
> different tones to each person in your address book, so you can
> decide whether you want to answer without looking at the caller ID.
> If you have more people in your address book than ringtones your
> phone came with, you need to get more.

I don't have different tones for *everybody*, but different ones for
different groups. Addam's Family theme for my family, Liberty Bell March
for people not in my phonelist, Mission Impossible theme for text
messages, etc. I think I have six or seven different ones.

On Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:01:09 -0500, Sean O'Hara <seanohara@gmail.com>
wrote:

>> Quite often I will go to iTunes, check to see if a song I want to buy
>> is protected - and if it is, I don't buy.
>
>Have you tried Amazon's MP3 music store? It's all DRM-free with VBR
>(usually between 192 and 256kbps), and the prices are on average
>cheaper than iTunes. The selection is much better than iTunes
>DRM-free store.

Yes. The ID is in the comment.

>> I just don't "get" the huge market for ringtones. But then I'm not a
>> high school kid, and I haven't actually heard a phone ring using them.
>> My ringtone is the one I found (included with my phone) that was the
>> least likely to be noticed by anybody but me.
>
>The main point of ringtones for adults is that you can assign
>different tones to each person in your address book, so you can
>decide whether you want to answer without looking at the caller ID.
>If you have more people in your address book than ringtones your
>phone came with, you need to get more.

I tried having two ring tones, but I forgot who had which tone. My
wife looks at her phone to see who it is before answering - so that I
usually hear her doing something else when she answers. I don't need
to know who's calling before I pick up the phone - I'll find out soon
enough.

In article <5st83qF1a57nsU1@mid.individual.net>, seanohara@gmail.com
says...

> The main point of ringtones for adults is that you can assign
> different tones to each person in your address book, so you can
> decide whether you want to answer without looking at the caller ID.
> If you have more people in your address book than ringtones your
> phone came with, you need to get more.

Well, that too.
Two other main points are:

Not liking any of the standard ringtones that came with the phone;
and - for me the most important one - once cell phone penetration is
high enough so that everybody you're likely to be around at any time has
one, there'll inevitably be _lots_ of people who use the standard
ringtones. Very annoying when a phone rings and 10 people start
scrambling around trying to see if it's theirs. My mom uses the default
tone and each time she gets a call while on public transport lots of
other people grab for their purses. While you can locate me in a public
place simply by calling me and listening for the sound my phone makes.
I've never heard anybody else using the same ringtone.

Hate musical ringtones though. The sound the phone makes should be an
inviting, non-irritating signal-like sound, not a song-and-dance.
I'd pay gladly for someone to design some to my specs. Not finding a
completely satisfying artificial sound, I've had to settle for bird
calls (common crane). And yes, I paid to get it into my phone. Probably
could have found a way to convert and upload it myself, but it would
have taken both physical and software accessories that I did not have or
otherwise need and time more valuable than the piddly sum I paid for the
file. Ditto for phone background images.

rgds,
netcat