The Rise and Fall of Music Ringtones: A Statistical Analysis

I have long wanted this[1] for my ringtone...

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA-PXhRHPnE&t=388s

"You can create custom ringtones on your iPhone using GarageBand by importing audio, trimming it, and exporting it as a ringtone. First, you'll need the GarageBand app and optionally, an audio file or a song from your Apple Music library. Then, you can import the audio, trim it to under 30 seconds, and export it as a ringtone within GarageBand. Finally, you can set the ringtone in your iPhone's settings under "Sounds & Haptics". Here's a more detailed breakdown: 1. Get GarageBand and your audio: Download GarageBand from the App Store if you don't already have it. If you're using a song from Apple Music, make sure it's downloaded to your iPhone. You can also import audio files from your Files app or record audio directly in GarageBand. 2. Create a new project in GarageBand: Open GarageBand and create a new audio recording. Select the track type (e.g., Files, Music) and import your chosen audio. If using a song from your library, it must be downloaded to your iPhone. If the file is dimmed, it is either protected or not downloaded. 3. Edit the audio: Adjust the start and end points of the audio using the handles to create a 30-second or shorter ringtone. You can also use the precision editor for more fine-grained adjustments. If the ringtone is longer than 30 seconds, GarageBand will automatically shorten it when exporting. 4. Export as a ringtone: Tap the navigation button and then "My Songs". Select your project, tap the share button, and choose "Ringtone". Name your ringtone and tap "Export". 5. Set the ringtone: If the ringtone is less than 30 seconds, you can choose to use it as a standard ringtone, text tone, or assign it to a contact. To set it as your general ringtone, go to iPhone settings > Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone. You can also assign the ringtone to a specific contact. "

It's been a while since I've done it, but I think it's still possible, though a pain in the ass, to put custom ringtones on an iPhone. It involved renaming a .m4a audio file with to have a .m4r extension and then somehow getting it on the phone. Worth it to have the opening to "Eye of the Tiger" as a ringtone.

The true way to impose your will on others is to set music ringbacks (the sound the caller hears while they wait for you to pick up). Still popular in India and China, I hear.

I rock the ringtone from the Dude's briefcase phone. Ride of the Valkyries is also a fan favorite. A colleague had the Star Wars Imperial March — but only for calls from his wife.

I knew the ringtone was officially dead when I watched an Apple-produced show on AppleTV+ and they used a vibration noise as a sound effect for a phone ringing.

The article doesn't mention the elephant in the room - iPhone. The fall of ringtones and the rise of iPhone isn't a mere coincidence. The feature phones had too little features, everything on them was controlled by the provider, and thus ringtones were something noticeable, one of the few available ways for customization, a way for that brick to do something else. With introduction of iPhone the ring customization - just use any sound file, etc, no payment - became just a very small insignificant feature drowned by a lot of other functionality like full featured web browsing, etc. and thus it lost user's attention. I don't remember anybody doing ring customization on iPhone or any other smartphone besides picking from the preloaded list of rings.