Polyphonic Ring Tones - Old-Fashioned

In the beginning was the ring (really more of an electronic trill or beep) - dull but serviceable, using only one tone tracer, and it came with a single line melody - not much of a choice.

Then Nokia invented text messaging, and Paanen, a Finnish programmer, realized that you are using the same technology to easily transmit songs to mobile phones. This led to the development of Harmonium, the first complex polyphonic sound creator. Instead of being locked into single tones, users suddenly could have rings with harmony and consistency.

Still, someone had to program the sounds that you can not just convert your favorite songs into Harmonium polyphonic sounds. Digital content providers picked up Harmonium quickly and used it to create polyphonic ringtones, sell them to both phone users and phone providers. While polyphonic tones were better than mono tones, they still sounded more like an old video game than the music they were patterned after.

MP3 Ringtones: The New Wave

Today ringtone providers switching to MP3 ringtones with realistic, near-CD quality. Also called master tones or True Tones, these are usually bits of a real song, using your favorite music to alert you to a call. Voice ringtones, sound effects, and instrumental or lyrical music are all available as MP3 ringtones today.

MP3 ringtones today account for two thirds of new mobile ringtones. The sound is an excerpt from your favorite music with lyrics and the whole band playing - much nicer than the old-fashioned ring or dull monotone melody. Most mobile phone manufacturers today include this type of ringtone on their newest handsets. Better yet, you can program today's phones to play different tones for different reasons.

If you have more than one life that most people do, you can also have multiple ringtones. The songs you play, when you're out at a pub are probably different from those you would read at work and with most phones today, it is not difficult to change. You can also assign different ringtones to different people, your mother may have a radically different tone from your boyfriend.

Most cell phones come with some ringtones pre-installed, you can find the ones you really like out on the wireless Internet. There are several methods for downloading ringtones. You can subscribe to a service that will send them to your phone weekly for a fee. Or you can download new ring tones from your favorite band's website. If you prefer to look at a wider range of tones, you can download them directly to your phone from multiple sources, using either a scrollable menu or choosing a numerical code linked to the ringtone you want. Not all rings are compatible with all phones, so you should try to sample them first.

If your ringtone sounds awful, it can not be the ringtone, it may be your phone. Older phones are not completely compatible with the newer ringtones, though they will probably play them. Imagine the difference between stereo systems in the 1950s and today, it's about the difference you see between a three-year voice and an entirely new one, in the form of sound. Your mobile phone must be able to tell you what your phone can handle.