I have certain friends who had to have a razor phone because they loved the idea of being able to set real music as their ringtones. When Alexandra’s phone would ring, she’d sing along for awhile before actually picking up the call. I suppose it can be funny, setting certain ringtones for certain people. Add some irony: I’m a Bitch for your sweetest friend. Or not even use music but movie quotes instead. I remember when we were house hunting our real estate agent’s incoming ring was a quote from Napoleon Dynamite. I laughed each time I heard it, so it was actually a successful use of the technology. So now that I have my iPhone, I’ve been creating my own ringtones (see more section below to learn how to create free ringtones). But I’m a little wary to use them because I can’t help feeling it’s like middle school, when I’d blast some popular or meaningful song, that I somehow thought defined me, on my outgoing answering machine.
Anyway. So I got to wondering, let’s just say, I did go ahead with it, assigning special ringtones for a few of the special people in my life. I mean, there have definitely been times where the phone has chirped as I sat down for dinner with Phil, and I’d turn to him and say, "I will only get it if it’s X." Then I’d jump up and see if X was indeed calling. So really the unique ringtone is so I can be lazy and screen even more calls. Which songs would I assign to whom? And as I question this, insisting they need to be songs I can tolerate hearing, I wonder what song or songs I would want associated with me. And that’s the big question, certainly not a new one: what is your theme song?
When my father phones, Rod Stewart’s "Forever Young" pipes in.
For Lea, it’s The Suicide Machines’ "Sometimes I Don’t Mind" (a song about loving your dog!)
Mom gets that awesome version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" that was featured in Finding Forrester.
As for my friends, just as I sometimes allow them to choose their own names for my books, I think they should choose their own song. It’s better than being stuck with a JoJo song always associated with you (as everyone seems to do with me and the "Get Out" song, which is associated with my past life and past crapjack marriage). What song would you want associated with you? I currently have all incoming calls set to "Bubbly" by Colbie Caillat. I might just mix it up with some more girl cliches and have Fergie’s "Big Girls Don’t Cry," but then I might need to put a pistol to my head.
To create free ringtones in iTunes:
1. Choose the song you want to turn into a ringtone (you have to own it) and make sure it is selected in iTunes
2. Listen to the song, and note where you want your ringtone to begin and end (for example, start in middle of song at 0:35 and end 1:12)
3. Right-click /ctrl-click the song and select GET INFO, then click the OPTIONS tab. Here you’ll put in that start and end time, and if you want, you can adjust the equalizer preset to reduce bass if it sounds like it has too much static once on your phone, etc) Then click OK.
4. Now with song selected, go to ADVANCED up top and select CONVERT SELECTION TO AAC. It will create the ringtone!
How to LOAD this ringtone onto an iPhone so it actually shows up in your ringtones options:
You need this software that’s free to use for 30 days, then $15 to purchase: iToner
