Hip-Hop Rings Put 'Bling' In Cell Phones

[Mike Temporale]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/Hip-hop+rings+put+%27bling%27+in+cell+phones/2100-1039_3-5375887.html?part=rss&tag=5375887&subj=news.1039.5' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/Hip-hop+rings+put+%27bling%27+in+cell+phones/2100-1039_3-5375887.html?part=rss&tag=5375887&subj=news.1039.5</a><br /><br /></div><i>"A pair of U.S. cell phone service providers want to put some "bling bling" into your cell phone--and simultaneously inject some life into the disappointing U.S. ring tone market. First coined in the late 1990s, the phrase bling bling is hip-hop lingo to describe showy style. Now come "bling tones," or cell phone ring tones created by hip-hop artists, which carriers say have the same level of panache. On Tuesday, Sprint Communications said it has begun selling clips of songs for cell phones from artists such as Rockwilder, Souldiggaz and Jay Dee. The ring tones cost $2.50 each."</i><br /><br />At $2.50 per ringtone, I can see why the market needs a little help. If I can buy music for $0.99 a song, why should a 30 second clip cost $2.50? I'm glad that you can create and use your own ringtones on Windows Mobile devices. :D I've just switched from the Windows default ringtone to the sound of an old phone ringing. What are you guys using for ringtones? And are you willing to pay $2.50 each to download them?

[kennyg]

I use several variations on thet old phone ring (I have 4-5 of them). It gets the most suprised looks.

I've paid 3.95 once for a bundle of 40 sounds, 4 of which I actually used, more because I didn't feel like searching through the internet and trying a ton of sounds.

Other sounds I like:

-- Cuckoo clock
-- Various Bird calls (good for meetings, they seem the least distracting to people)
-- Taps
-- Cavalry
-- New York Stock Exchange Bell

[Jason Lee]

I have a Moto v600. I use Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) to make any sound I want into an mp3 then just bluetooth it to my phone.

I downloaded a desktop sound theme from Star Trek and turned alot of those cools beeps into phone sounds. Also made a few from some of my favorite songs.
The one I use most of the time is the old telephone ring sound. I just like that one.

Of course any time I get a text message my phone beeps like the ST:TNG computer and says "incomming transmission"... man, i'm a geek... ;)

[Kris Kumar]

Default/Standard ring tone for me. I find the other tones very distracting. Most of the time the phone is in Silent/Meeting mode.

[Fitch]

I'm thinking that the North American companies are trying to mimick Europe/Japan's marketing techniques, but to no avail. Maybe it's just a mentality thing, or a cultural thing, but, exactly what you said- we won't pay for something we can do for free, just like we don't like paying for text messaging when we can just call the person or e-mail them from our computer.