Everyone has a cell phone now-a-days, and along with the
cell phone comes all types of extra features and add-ons that the cell phone
companies are constantly trying to up-sell you. Let's take a look at one of the
biggest sellers, ringtones.
Many people won't spend the money for a ringtone, and I
don't blame them. However, there are millions of people who do purchase
ringtones – sometimes even every week. I just opened up my VZW Tones (Verizon's
ringtone service), and they are trying to charge me $2.99 (USD) a ringtone. Those
prices are a complete rip-off considering you can buy a whole song for 99 cents
online.
You've probably seen websites offering free ringtones if you
enter some of your personal information. I haven't tried them but they seem
highly suspicious to me. Try it at your own risk.
The thing that wireless providers don't advertise to you is
that you can make your own ringtones for free, and distribute them to all of
your friends as well.
Get an MP3 of the
Song
The first thing you need to get started is an audio clip of the song on your
computer. As of now, I can not advise anyone to buy music from iTunes due to
the DRM infested nature of the files. Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a copy
protection scheme on many mp3s that limit the number of times a song can be
copied and burned to disc, eventually locking you out of a song that you
purchased. Currently, only songs from record label EMI are offered DRM-free
from iTunes. If you must buy mp3s, I suggest Amazon MP3 or Rhapsody's mp3
store. Don't forget that with a microphone you can create your own ringtones
too.
 Use a Wave Editor
After you have the mp3, you need a wave editor program. I usually use Nero Wave Editor, which comes bundled with the Nero disc burning software. There are also
many freeware programs you can get to edit your mp3, such as Audacity. You'll
also need to install the Lame MP3 encoder (also free). After opening the mp3 in
the wave editor, you can select and cut off part of the song until you are left
with what you would like for your ringtone. Just save the file as a new mp3 and
your ringtone is ready. The only thing left to do is transfer it to your cell
phone.
Transfer Ringtone to
your Phone
I recommend getting a MicroSD card for your phone, which lets you hold
pretty much an unlimited amount of ringtones, wallpapers, games, and even full
songs. A MicroSD card also makes it a synch to get new media on your phone by
simply plugging it via an adapter into your computer.
If you don't have a memory card you can still send the
ringtone to phone with a SMS message sent from your regular email program.
Each provider has a different SMS address for your phone here
some examples from popular carriers in the United States.
Verizon - phonenumber@vzwpix.com
ATT - phonenumber@mobile.att.net
T-Mobile - phonenumber@tmomail.net
Sprint - phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Nextel – phonenumber@messaging.nextel.com
If you provider isn't listed, send a picture message from
your phone to your email address and you can get your SMS address.
Depending on your carrier and cell phone model, there are
varying size limits for the ringtone files. I ran into issues when the MP3 was
over 700K on my LG enV2 from Verizon.
Free Ringtones For
All
So next time you consider giving $4 to AT&T for that hot new ringtone,
think about saving yourself some money by creating your own - while giving yourself
a broader selection to chose from.
Do you (or anyone on your plan) pay for ringtones? Have you tried
creating your own? If you're having trouble creating one or just too lazy...
post in the comments and I'll make one for you.
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