My Ringback Tones

What's So Great About Ringback Tones?

2010-11-18T13:56:00.000-08:00

Occasionally you may have called someone, on their cellphone and instead of the normal ring ring, you heard something very different. You might have heard music or some sort of audio message. Don't worry, your call will still go through as soon as it get's answered, but what you just heard was a ringback tone. Ringbacks are a cool new feature that can be put on your cellphone, which will only be heard by the person calling.

So why should you pay attention to ringback tones? Well, my opinion is they are a really cool feature that allows you to individualize your cellphone in a way that a simple phone cover or skin won't do. I always thought that ringtones were cool, and I still do. Those are the ring styles or songs that are played by your cell phone speaker when someone calls you. As compared to ringbacks, which are played through the earphone of the phone of the person making a call to you.

You might not have heard of them even though they have been around for, but don't let that make you think they aren't popular. On the contrary, they are growing steadily every year. It is estimated that in 2009, out of 3 billion cellphone users (in the world), there wer over 300 million ringback tones downloaded to cellphones. And that number is continuing to rise. So again, why should you jump on the bandwagon? Here are my top reasons to at least try them and see what kind of reception you get from your buddies.

The range of ringbacks available span current hit songs to classic and topical songs, as well as audio clips. You can even personalize your audio clips your self.
It is cheap to install a ringback. There will be a monthyly charge to enable ringback tones, and then each individual tone is purchased, typically around .99 cents or a few dollars.
It is super easy to update your phone with a collection of ringbacks, and manage the schedules you want the ringbacks played, by using apps that your cellphone company provides to manage your ringtones.
Your ringbacks can be programmed to play for certain people, or at certain times of the day.

Another option if you don't want to play ringbacks on your own phone is to give a gift certificate to someone you know so they can try them out. For example, get your Dad some cellphone gifts on Father's Day and include some ringback tones of his favorite current rap songs. Then he can use his coupon to download a few more ringbacks of his choosing.

Hopefully this has given you a bit more information about what ringback tones are, and why you should be interested in them. Have fun!

Ringbacks

2010-01-06T10:47:00.000-08:00

If you are like me, your cellphone is probably about the top accessory that you own. It is no wonder, because this is how you communicate with the world. You call your friends, family, work, home. And in turn everyone phones you. Unless we choose to go off-line, we can be connected to the rest of the world 100% of the time. There is no longer any time or place that we need to be disconnected. This puts us on call twenty-four hours a day. That is a big part of your life ... and my approach to this non-stop cellphone connectedness is to add some interest and fun.

So how do I mean add interest and fun to my cellphone? Well, there's no big secret - like most of the world you probably already have an assortment of media and applications on your mobile phone. The list of perks that you can carry around with you on your cellphone include ringtones, mp3s, pictures, video and games. These are all great and all, but you may not be aware that there are even more cool features you can add to your phone. The one that I have made this blog specifically about is something called ringback tones.

You might have your cellphone outfitted with a nice set of mp3s for when you are waiting for the bus, you may have already downloaded or created, uploaded and downloaded all sorts of ringtones, but if you haven't yet installed ringback tones on your cellphone, you aren't truly taking advantage of the the cool features that cellphone providers make available.

These are the ringing tones that someone who calls you hears. When they are waiting for you to pickup, or waiting until your answering machine to pickup, usually your caller just hears a 'ring .... ring ....ring'. When you install ringback tones (also known as caller tones, or answer tones in case you are wondering), your caller will instead hear the tone or song that you specify. The cool thing is that you can program different ringbacktones for different numbers, or different times of day, or just have your tones rotate no matter who is calling.

Different name for Ringback Tones

Here is a list of the name that different carriers have for ringbacks. Essentially the service is the same between each carrier, although their menus for installing and programming will be slightly different between them all.

Verizon Wireless - Ringback Tones
Sprint PCS -
AT&T (including formerly Cingular) - Answer Tones
Sprint Nextel - Call Tones
Bell Mobility - Caller Ring Tunes
T-Mobile - Caller Tones
Rogers - Caller Ring Trax

It doesn't matter which provider you have your cellphone package with, all of them carry an excellent assortment of music, including new releases and old standards. Just like ringtones, ringback tones are big business for the phone companies, so they are not going away. Most phones will allow you to select individual tones for different callers. That means you can play current pop tunes for your friends, and country tunes for your folks.

Anyway, that's all I have to say about ringback tones for today. Next post perhaps I'll research the latest ringback news and write about some interesting news updates.

Verizon Ringback Tones For the Holidays

2009-12-15T13:20:00.000-08:00

“Rock Around The Clock” During The Holidays And All Year Long With Music From Verizon Wireless

It seems that users of the Verizon Wireless services can have their pick from several holiday themed songs this season. Verizon Wireless has put together a wide variety of Christmas music selections, including a nice holiday bonus - ringback tones bundles. No matter what your musical tastes are, Verizon Wireless has holiday music that will suit anyone, whether you prefer traditional and classic, or current pop and country hits. The holiday music will only be available until the end of the year.

Spread Cheer with Jukeboxes

If you want to install a collection of holiday tunes that will play at random when anyone calls your cellphone, consider trying a Verizon Wireless jukebox. No matter who is calling - family, friends, co-workers or your boss, you can install a 5 pack ringback tones jukebox, which includes current holiday hits from artists such as Miley Cyrus, Jordan Pruitt, and the Jonas Brothers. The holiday songs included are:

“Wonderful Christmastime” by Demi Lovato
“Celebrate Love” by Jordan Pruitt
“Winter Wonderland” by Selena Gomez and The Scene
“Joyful Kinds” by the Jonas Brothers
“Santa Clause is Coming to Town” by Miley Cyrus

Using a Jukebox is a great idea in my opinion. This is the first time I've seen an option for obtaining reasonably cheap ringback tones. Using the Verizon Wireless Jukebox concept lets you choose from packs priced from $4.95 to $9.45. The price varies depending on how many ringbacktones are in the pack.

More Holiday Jukesboxes

In addition to the above 5-pack holiday jukebox, more options are available, including:

Holiday Hits
Country Holiday
Holiday Cheer
Transiberian Orchestra
Alvin & The Chipmunks
Classic Motown Holiday
Hot Holiday
Holiday Covers – “Santa Baby”
Holiday Comedy
Christian Holiday

Playlists ... Holiday Favorites

Another great feature that is available on your cellphone is the ability to program playlists of ringback tones. Verizon Wireless makes it simple to create holiday themed playlists, by providing hundreds of holiday tunes. Choose from the "Holiday Hits" playlist to create a perfect Christmas theme for your ringback tones. Verizon Wireless provides their own music suggestions for a great holiday themed playlist, or users can select their own ringbacks to create their own custom festive playlist. Both new and old favorites, such as 'Santa Clause Is Comin' To Town' by Bruce Springsteen, 'Santa Baby' by Eartha Kitt and 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' by Mariah Carey are all available for download.

Downloading Ringback Tones

There are a couple of ways to get the holiday ringback tones to your cellphone from Verizon - you can use the VZW Tones Deluxe application on your Verizon Wireless phone to download directly to your cellphone, or you can visit the online Verizon Wireless Media Store at www.vzw.com/mp3.

Verizon Wireless Special Holiday Video Messages

Verizon Wireless subscribers who would like special video promotions sent directly to their phone can text “Y” to 3575 to receive holiday video greetings, exclusives from the music industry’s most talented artists, and other special content promotions.

For more information about mobile music from Verizon Wireless, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com/music.

(this article is paraphrased from a post on the Verizon Wireless website, published 12/07/2009)

Ringback Tones - huh?

2009-01-12T23:08:00.000-08:00

So just what are Ringback Tones? In simple terms, when you call someone you usually will hear a beep letting you know that you have been connected and the phone is ringing - this is the ringback tone.

What are Ringback Tones? Technically, a ringback tone is "an intermittent audible indication to the calling party that a dialed telephone number is ringing." So what this is saying is that when you call someone you usually will hear a beep letting you know that you have been connected and the phone is ringing.

A more technical explanation is that your ringback tone is a status indication to your caller that your line is available (ie., in service and not busy). Network connections through the telephony networks between the caller and the callee's audio devices are either made, or will be available to be connected, and the phone call will complete. (that is, if the call is picked up - either by an answering service or a person)

Once the receiving party has either answered your call, or you call was picked up by an answering machine or network voice service, the ringback tone stops. (awwww). The actual sound of a ringback tone will depend on your country and/or carrier.

The actual sound of a ringback tone will depend on your country and/or carrier. Again, to get technical, in North America (United States and Canada), which are within the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), the standard PSTN ringback tone is generated by summing a 440-Hz tone with a 480-Hz tone and applying these to the telephone line in a two-second on and four-second off rhythm.

The interference due to the difference in frequency between the two tones causes a 40-Hz beat, and the tone combination produces the common warbling "ring ... ring ... ring" sound. The ringback tone may be generated by the switch serving either the called party or the calling party, but it is not generated by the called telephone instrument or PBX. Usually the ringback tone starts and stops at the same rate as the ringing tone of the called telephone, but generally is out of phase, i.e., one plays while the other is silent.

Finally we get to the fun part - rather than the standard 'ring ring' tone we just talked about above, cellphone carriers have made it possible to personalize the ringbacks that your cellphone service will play when a caller is waiting for you or your machine to pickup. A huge selection of current (as well as classic) music and audio clips are available for selection on your cellphone to play as the ringback tone. Customizing your ringback tones in this manner is available through subscription services with your particular carrier, and is generally billed as an additional charge per tone selected.

You can customize the tone played depending on the caller - it is possible to select up to 100 or so active ringback tones at any given time, each programmed so that different callers hear different tones/songs/clips, or programmed so that different tones will play dependent on the time of day.

Great, now we're on the same page about what these things are, so I'm going to think hard about what my next fun post about ringback tones will be!

My Ringback Tones

2008-12-31T11:39:00.000-08:00

I love ringback tones. I love them enough that I think a blog about my ringback tones is totally warranted. I think this is just the coolest invention (after ringtones of course) ever. It's like a retro revival of the on-hold elevator music of the 80's. You get the 'please wait' music, but you're not really on hold. Ringback tones while the phone is ringing ... ingenious!!

The only drawback is that the cellphone carriers control the ringback tones. No downloading directly to your phone like my ringtone collection. Or heaven forbid, make your own mix and upload. Well, that must be just around the corner if it's not already available. (note to self: go see if I can do this with my ringback tones yet).

Next post ... my current 'ringback tone playlist' - complete with my caller list that I customize my tones for. I think it's important to know who's calling me when I talk about the ringback tone that I've set up for my peeps.