A RING YOU CAN dance to.(Journal North)
Byline: Emily Crawford Journal Staff Writer
Robin Johnstone, 68, of Corrales, is a business consultant. Though Johnstone is
not a techie, he said, he has five different downloaded rings on his phone that
are not songs but sounds. They include a trumpeting elephant, a fog horn and a
fire engine.
Each serves a different purpose, like indicating he has a new e-mail message.
Though he gets some strange looks, especially when his phone begins trumpeting
in a meeting, Johnstone said the rings serve his needs.
"It's a great way to personalize your phone," said Jenny Weaver, a spokesperson
for Verizon Wireless. Weaver said that the ringtones are not simply for the
teenage market.
"Data services have evolved over the last two years, and there is huge demand
for it," she said.
In addition to ringtones, data services include text messaging, games and
sending pictures from one phone to another. Data service usage brought in $1.1
billion for Verizon in 2004, with ringtones ranking as the most popular service,
Weaver said.
More advances on way
Ringtones are just the beginning.
"Real" or "master" tones -- actual song recordings, duplicating what you hear on
a CD or the radio -- are now available on the newest handsets. Cell phone
companies also are just rolling out "ringbacks," which may soon prove even more
successful than the ringtones.
Ringbacks are played over the phone line for a caller to hear while waiting for
the party they called to pick up. In other words, your mom can make you listen
to The Beatles' "I Want To Hold Your Hand" when you call her.
Like ringtones, ringbacks can be assigned to different callers, which may be
good news for parents who don't really want to listen to "Drop It Like It's Hot"
by Snoop Dogg while waiting for their teen to pick up.
Ringbacks are more expensive than ringtones, and usually have a per-month cost
of at least a $1. They are not widely available in New Mexico yet, but are
poised to be the next wave in mobile music technology in addition to
downloadable music videos.
Sometimes all of this technology can get confusing.
In addition to ringbacks and ringtones, many teens also forego the standard
voice-mail message that tells callers to leave a message, playing a song they
identify with instead.
The problem with that, said Mayfield, who has a 17-year-old step-daughter, is
that "you can listen to two different songs and still not know if you called the
right kid."
All right! (by forestgum, Jul 14th, 2007)
