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Print 31 comment(s) - last by myndwarp.. on Sep 8 at 10:15 AM
Apple plans to roll out pre-made ringtones

During a confirmed press event on September 9, Apple is expected to add pre-made ringtones to the iTunes music store, hoping to cash in as a growing number of phone owners seek custom ringtones.

Ringtone pricing varies depending on wireless provider, but most ringtones cost between $1.99 and $2.99, though analysts expect the pre-made ringtones from Apple to be available for $1.29.  Record labels are now more interested in marketing ringtones to phone owners, as ringtones offer higher profit margins than MP3 downloads.

iTunes users can currently pay for a music track and then pay an additional $0.99 to cut out a 30-second clip that can be turned into a ringtone. The ability to pay a lower amount and not have to do any work is expected to be appealing for phone owners in the future.

The actual demand for ringtones is unknown, with research firms providing different predictions for the market.  Research firm SNL Kagan recently released a report indicating ringtone sales cashed in $714 million in 2007 -- but that number dropped 24 percent to $541 million one year later.

Furthermore, there are several online services where phone owners are able to upload a song to the site, select a part of the song, then send the file to their mobile phones.

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Couldn't they...
By Marlonsm on 9/4/2009 5:43:34 PM , Rating: 5
...just allow people to use anything they want as ringtones as every other brand do.
If they keep doing things like this people will soon notice that Apple isn't as good as the ads say (at least I hope so).




RE: Couldn't they...
By shabby on 9/4/2009 5:53:53 PM , Rating: 5
Your logical idea doesn't generate any revenue...


RE: Couldn't they...
By Gul Westfale on 9/4/2009 6:13:57 PM , Rating: 5
exactly. i recently bought an LG neon (no choice really, my old phone is broken, i need/want email on the phone, and all the other phones my provider sells are pieces of shit).

the phone is very nice, but i can only use DRM-ed thingies as ringtones, due to my provider (fido) locking the phone in this manner. no self-ripped songs, my friend. so i paid $3.50 for a star trek ringtone, only to find that it sounds like some 12 year old made it on a commodore 64.

so the moral of the story? check not only what the phone is capable of before buying it, but also check what the phone dictatorships actually let you do with it.

and fuck fido (aka rogers). once my contract is up (16 months of overpriced shit to go, woohoo), i'll switch to a less evil company. since bell (which is even worse than fido) owns virgin canada and solo, that leaves me only telus... i hope they don't suck as much as fido.


RE: Couldn't they...
By Pirks on 9/4/2009 6:48:22 PM , Rating: 4
Futile hopes, drop 'em, Canadian wireless sucks the biggest in the world, I checked myself. Ukrainian wireless data rates are 40 times less than Canadian. Just forget it, Soviet Canada ownz ya :P


RE: Couldn't they...
By download7 on 9/4/2009 9:08:33 PM , Rating: 3
you should be able to take your MP3 into an audio editing program and clip out 30 seconds of it and save it as a WAV file and get it to work, my Sony Ericson was the same way, it only let me use DRMed MP3s as ringtones, but also wav files;)


RE: Couldn't they...
By Gul Westfale on 9/4/2009 11:16:27 PM , Rating: 2
thank you , i will try that!


RE: Couldn't they...
By theArchMichael on 9/7/2009 12:24:09 AM , Rating: 2
i reccomend cool edit has a free trial
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Audio/Audi...


RE: Couldn't they...
By Josh7289 on 9/6/2009 4:17:02 AM , Rating: 2
Honestly, (in the US), I've never found a single good wireless carrier. Or ISP. Or cable company.

etc.


RE: Couldn't they...
By MattDamon on 9/7/2009 4:47:40 AM , Rating: 2
In the US...try comeing here to South Africa dude, even if you do find a decent one, they still gonna rape you for every cent you got, you ppl bitch to much.


RE: Couldn't they...
By ClownPuncher on 9/4/2009 6:50:10 PM , Rating: 4
I though capitalism brought us what we wanted


RE: Couldn't they...
By MadMan007 on 9/5/2009 2:10:14 AM , Rating: 4
In Soviet capitalism product buys you!


RE: Couldn't they...
By michael2k on 9/4/2009 7:48:27 PM , Rating: 3
They already do. I've been using custom ringtones on my iPhone for the last two years.

I think what they mean is ringtones for other phones... or maybe the end user who isn't saavy enough to use iTunes to make their own ringtones? I mean, you didn't know iTunes could make ringtones right?


RE: Couldn't they...
By Griswold on 9/5/2009 3:33:45 AM , Rating: 2
Yes, I'm also using custom ring tones on my iphone, but you cant make them from the content of your itunes library without paying extra $$$ for the + tag on songs...

And frankly, making one yourself is a hassle^2.


RE: Couldn't they...
By InternetGeek on 9/6/2009 6:54:23 PM , Rating: 2
No, they don't. Not in the way the OP describes, which is the de-facto standard. Support is limited to ring tones bought from the itunes store.

Any other phone lets you use any mp3 you give it as a ring tone. Some ask you to slice using a program they include already. Others just use the mp3 as-is.

No need to pay someone for a badly encoded file.


amazing
By headbox on 9/4/2009 4:34:18 PM , Rating: 3
This is most important tech news in MONTHS!




RE: amazing
By TomZ on 9/4/2009 4:41:45 PM , Rating: 2
Yes, that and the iPhone finally getting MMS. What innovation!


RE: amazing
By Pirks on 9/4/2009 4:43:27 PM , Rating: 1
6


RE: amazing
By ksherman on 9/4/2009 5:43:19 PM , Rating: 2
His comment is not worth a 6... Its just true.

Kind of ridiculous to post a whole news story about this. First, its a rumor (yeah, I know rumors get made into stories here from time to time) and its not like its really all that exciting.


RE: amazing
By Gul Westfale on 9/4/2009 6:07:57 PM , Rating: 4
so a ringtone for your iphone is the same price as a complete song... this is exactly what the retards that typically buy apple products have been waiting for! i bet they all pre-ordered a chevy volt as well, the idiots.


RE: amazing
By ksherman on 9/4/2009 7:18:24 PM , Rating: 2
Funny thing, any iTunes plus or other non-DRM'd files can easily be made into ringtones, even with Apple's very own Garageband pretty easily. I made a whole bunch a while back, but decided I would rather have mine ring like a real phone. Novel idea, huh? :)


RE: amazing
By MadMan007 on 9/5/09, Rating: 0
Seriously...
By nrhpd527 on 9/4/09, Rating: 0
RE: Seriously...
By michael2k on 9/4/2009 7:50:35 PM , Rating: 3
You can't be that smart if you had to find a program (iRinger) to do it when iTunes already does it.

1) Select start/stop times
2) Rip to mp4
3) Rename to m4r
4) Add to iPhone


RE: Seriously...
By Akrita on 9/5/2009 9:06:00 AM , Rating: 2
You don't even need the iRinger
Just use the Quicktime player to export you audio source to mp4, and as michael said rename it to m4r


So
By jay401 on 9/5/2009 12:07:34 PM , Rating: 3
Full songs cost $.99 but a ringtone, a 5-30 second snippet of a song, costs $2-3? See what a ridiculous rip-off paying for ringtones is? Anyone who pays that instead of making their own or sticking with one of the default selections is foolish.




RE: So
By FaceMaster on 9/6/2009 11:44:04 AM , Rating: 1
I guess that in gardening forums they're like 'LOL at people who would pay some one else to lay down grass for them, it saves so much money to do it ourselves!!'

...only with out the LOL.

I'm sure that there are many people out there who would rather just spend a premium on a ringtone that's ready made. I wouldn't, but I'd be willing to sell ringtones that I've made for money.

You people need to remember that not everybody's a computer nerd.


Ringtones?
By Voo on 9/5/2009 8:18:58 AM , Rating: 2
http://xkcd.com/479/

Sorry, couldn't ressist :p

Though I think I'm an outsider in that respect.. my phone is well over 7 years old and is only used for calling someone - not that internet and stuff wouldn't be nice to have, but as long as it works I'm fine ;)




Just do it youself for free.
By d4a2n0k on 9/5/2009 11:11:08 AM , Rating: 2
http://audiko.net/

*I have no affiliation with the above site




i8000
By DigitalWanksta on 9/6/2009 3:18:54 AM , Rating: 2
I got the Samsung i8000 from JAB Cellular http://www.jabcellular.com and I love the MP3 ring tone option.. You have to be sure to research every item of the product before buying.. I love my phone!




By Zensen on 9/6/2009 10:03:49 AM , Rating: 2
welcome to 2001 apple my 3315 allowed me to put any ringtone on there. oh wait yer still selling it at a premium...
innovation indeed.




You can do it
By myndwarp on 9/8/2009 10:15:34 AM , Rating: 2
As has been stated already, you can currently use GarageBand, QuickTime, or a host of other programs to create your own ringtones right now. Most people would rather spend the money and buy it done for them, and that should speak volumes about people, not Apple.




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