Listen, is that the call of a rare warbler? No, it's my new mobile ringtone
By Bryony Gordon
They go off everywhere: infuriating trills that can make half a dozen people
reach simultaneously into their pockets.
But soon, the tinkly tunes of mobile telephones could become passé. Instead of
playing snatches from chart hits and irritating television and film theme tunes,
Britain's estimated 50 million mobiles will be able to reproduce the song of a
cuckoo, a greenfinch, a house martin or a nightingale.
It's good to squawk: Bryony Gordon at London Zoo
If the idea catches on the streets of Britain will also echo with the thump of
gorillas beating their chests, the roar of the lion, the hiss of a cobra and the
squawks from a colony of penguins.
In an unlikely alliance, the British Library is offering mobile telephone
companies and service providers the pick of its 100,000 recordings of animal
noises made in the wild.
The first tranche of 40 sounds has been sold to iTouch and Mobiletones, who are
providing 40 bird and animal sounds that can be downloaded from the internet on
to the new generation of mobiles for between £1.50 and £4.
These ringtones will be made available this week, and many more are expected to
be released in the autumn.
Funny tone! (by forestgum, Jul 14th, 2007)
