Ringtones (also called tones, ringer tones and cell tones) are sounds made by your cell phone to let you know you have an incoming call. Ringtones have become increasingly popular and this business is estimated to be worth more than $US 2 billion! The three types of ring tones are Monophonic, Polyphonic and Truetones (also called realtones). Real tones, which are usually excerpts of popular songs, have become the most commonly downloaded cell tones.

Finding free ringtones

The technology in mobile phones has improved greatly in the last five years and these days most tones are of very high quality. Fortunately, it is possible to get free ringtones of quite good quality, which means you don’t have to worry about being billed each month in a subscription service.

The best websites for getting some free tones are those that allow you to make ringtones out of music (mp3’s or CD’s) you already own. Dopetone is an example of a site that allows you to do this. These sites are very easy to use. You simply upload your music (it is best to upload it in mp3 format) and pick the part of the song that you would like as your ringer tone. You then send the file to your cell phone and you have a free ringtone of your favorite song. Of course, you can pay for ringtones that have already been professionally edited and these are usually the best quality available. Remember that some services are on a subscription basis, which can be costly over time. However, if you are a frequent downloader these can be quite reasonable.

Many cell phones (such as Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola, Siemens and the iPhone) allow you to compose melodies. Most of the major cellular phone networks (such as Sprint Nextel, AT&T, and Verizon) offer these different brands of cell phones on different plans and some even have their own subscription service for downloads and ring tones. These composed melodies can be saved and used as your ringer tone. Unfortunately, the tones you make cannot be transferred between phones the different brands of phone store the tones in different file formats. This is why many people choose to use ringtones from commercial companies as they can be played on almost any cell phone.

Special Tip

If you have an iPhone then it is important to remember that many of the tracks you buy from iTunes can be converted into tones for no extra cost! Simply right click on the song in iTunes and select create ringtones.

If you are looking for no strings attached completely free ring tones then I recommend looking through the public domain songs, which are legally available for free. These usually come in MP3 format and can be easily converted into ringtones with free software if your phone does not accept this format already. I have listed a few here for download, but there are heaps of songs in the public domain that are easy to find such as (click the links to download):

• Folk songs – It’s a long way to Tipperary
• Many Christmas Songs – Jingle Bells
• National Anthems (for the patriotic) – Star Spangled Banner
• Traditional Kids Songs – Old Macdonald
• The Classics – Such as Mozart, Marriage of Figaro and Handel’s Hallelujah
• And many more

These files have been tested and are guaranteed spyware and virus free.

Latest in ring tone technology

A new innovation in cell phones is ‘sing tones’. Your voice is recorded and mixed with a backing track. Users don’t have to worry if they are a bad singer as the program adjusts the tune and timing so that it fits with the track. This is very new technology so watch out for new programs to be released in the future.