pmb

Ringtones

Mar 05, 2009 10:57

What is a ringtone for? Answer: it is for you to be able to hear your cellular telephone ringing ( Read more... )

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Comments 33

roninspoon March 5 2009, 16:45:30 UTC
Ringtones have additional value. Different tones can be assigned to different notifications or callers. I find it very helpful to have different short tones for calendar and email events as well as different call tones that rank priority of caller.

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pmb March 5 2009, 16:48:21 UTC
You are advanced, sir!

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roninspoon March 5 2009, 16:53:45 UTC
I have two smart phones. I have to be.

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triath March 5 2009, 17:34:39 UTC
I suppose you could record each person saying your name and have personalized ringtones that way. :]

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dragonmudd March 5 2009, 17:05:16 UTC
I like most of your reasoning, but you seem to discount one aspect of annoyingness: how annoying it is to the cell phone holder. I mean, if your cell phone administered a small electrical shock to the cell phone holder, that would also satisfy all of your requirements, but would be incredibly annoying. I think I would find the cell phone calling my name to be annoying.

It could cause some funny situations where someone is actually calling my name and I think my phone is ringing, thus trying to answer my phone... and now the person thinks that I'm trying to ignore them by pretending that I got a phone call when I didn't.

Another possibility is to have a voice of some that is very familiar to you, like a family member or a close friend or significant other. I definitely can pick out voices that I know intimately almost as well as I can hear my own name in noisy situations. Of course, this equally gives an opportunity for humorous situations.

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pmb March 5 2009, 18:38:07 UTC
Give it a try and report the results! I have found it to be non-annoying, particularly because it is me saying my own name, so it doesn't sound like other people so much.

Don't discard this idea without trying it. I have been doing it for 6+ months now with very positive results.

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dragonmudd March 5 2009, 18:45:32 UTC
Well, I wasn't discarding it for the reasons I mentioned, just furthering discussion on it. In reality I am most likely to dismiss it because I have other feelings on the issue. I'm also lazy, but maybe if I ever get a new phone (I've had this one for three and a half years so far) I'll reconsider.

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dragonmudd January 26 2011, 17:06:57 UTC
Does it say: "Peter! Answer the damn phone!"

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qousqous March 5 2009, 17:47:21 UTC
So you're saying that using this ringtone to announce that my wife is calling is not a good idea?

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purple_dj March 5 2009, 18:21:57 UTC
I knew someone who adjusted their ring tone to be a baby crying to optimize the annoying value. It worked too well and was turned off after two days.

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pmb March 5 2009, 18:40:49 UTC
I tried to make my ringtone annoying for a while, but was also overly-successful. Utilizing the cocktail party effect has been good for 6+ months so far.

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stereotype441 March 5 2009, 18:28:17 UTC
My ringtone is a dixieland rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In". It is so embarrassing that I always keep my cell phone on vibrate. Which is exactly the way I like it.

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waltermonkey March 5 2009, 20:40:33 UTC
I agree. I don't like any ringtones interrupting normal conversation.

It is good to know the cocktail party effect has a name though! I have always wondered why that was. I wasn't sure if I had superpowers or if I was just self-obsessed.

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