non-musical (business / professional) ringtones?

Posted by: DWallach

non-musical (business / professional) ringtones? - 21/07/2005 00:53

I'm thrilled with my Motorola RAZR, but I hear the same damn Motorola rings everywhere I go. However, I don't want my phone singing a tune. I want a more traditional ring that, well, rings. Digitized phone bells seem silly. Ideally, I'd like to find a wide selection of the sort of synthetic rings that the human factors gnomes of the then-monolotic Bell Laboratories tested against thousands of subjects for their ability to be heard without being annoying.

Any ideas where to find MP3 (or MIDI) version of such rings?
Posted by: JeffS

Re: non-musical (business / professional) ringtones? - 21/07/2005 01:19

I can't help you, but I have to chime in and say that when I got my new phone I cycled through all of the tones listening for the one I considered least obnoxious. I settled on a soft tone that beeps like a microwave or an alarm clock. The tone cuts through, but doesn't jolt me like every other one does. The only thing is that I seem to be the only one who feels this way. EVERYONE comments that my phone is obnoxious, which I find strange coming from those who use a patriotic march as a ring tone (not that I have any problems with patriotic marches, but it's very distracting when it blares out of someone's cube just a few feet away). I guess everyone has their own tastes.

Why do ring tones have to be so obnoxious?
Posted by: gbeer

Re: non-musical (business / professional) ringtones? - 21/07/2005 01:53

Is it the tone, or the phone?
Posted by: canuckInOR

Re: non-musical (business / professional) ringtones? - 21/07/2005 03:51

IMHO, the only professional/business "ringtone" is vibrate mode.
Posted by: andy

Re: non-musical (business / professional) ringtones? - 21/07/2005 04:13

Quote:
IMHO, the only professional/business "ringtone" is vibrate mode.


I couldn't agree more, though I wish my phone wouldn't walk across the table and then fall on the floor when it rings on vibrate mode...
Posted by: DWallach

Re: non-musical (business / professional) ringtones? - 21/07/2005 10:04

The problem with vibrate mode is that you don't always feel it. I use the "vibrate + ring" mode, most of the time, only going to "vibrate only" where ringing would be socially unacceptable (e.g., in a movie).
Posted by: peter

Re: non-musical (business / professional) ringtones? - 21/07/2005 10:36

Quote:
I wish my phone wouldn't walk across the table and then fall on the floor when it rings on vibrate mode...

Nokia 8890s, if left set upright, pirouette in elegant little circles. If that was deliberate, it was very well done.

Peter
Posted by: furtive

Re: non-musical (business / professional) ringtones? - 22/07/2005 06:59

Quote:
socially unacceptable (e.g., in a movie).



This is really one of my bugbears. Why not just turn the phone off in a movie? It's not like you can answer it if it rings. But even bringing it out of your pocket to see who is ringing you lights up everyone sitting behind you and distracts them from the film.

TURN IT OFF!!!!

And relax.
Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: non-musical (business / professional) ringtones? - 22/07/2005 08:49

Here is mine (attached). I got the wav from some Flash animation web tools site like 5 years ago and just recently converted to mp3 for my phone.

I have noticed however that the ringtone getting the most popular is "vibrate" but in my line of work, it doesn't work too well.
Posted by: andym

Re: non-musical (business / professional) ringtones? - 22/07/2005 09:57

Quote:
Nokia 8890s, if left set upright, pirouette in elegant little circles. If that was deliberate, it was very well done.


...goes off to find his old 8890.
Posted by: andym

Re: non-musical (business / professional) ringtones? - 22/07/2005 10:04

I couldn't agree more, I could understand if he/she was a heart surgeon on call or something, but when it's just a kid, what's the point? If it's important they'll leave a message. I have had a bloke hold a conversation on his phone once, sounded like an IT support call. He got some quite serious verbal abuse from the other members of the audience because of that. How does that guy live with himself being such a wanker?
Posted by: Cybjorg

Re: non-musical (business / professional) ringtones? - 22/07/2005 10:42

Quote:
Why not just turn the phone off in a movie?


Here in the Middle East, they have devices that render mobile service inaccessible in theaters. So leave it on if you want; you won't be making any calls.
Posted by: lectric

Re: non-musical (business / professional) ringtones? - 22/07/2005 11:16

OOOh.. Nice.... That'll be in the suggestion box next time round.
Posted by: JBjorgen

Re: non-musical (business / professional) ringtones? - 22/07/2005 11:18

That'd be a lawsuit waiting to happen here. The sad part is that I'm not entirely sure the theater would win.
Posted by: furtive

Re: non-musical (business / professional) ringtones? - 22/07/2005 13:30

Quote:
Quote:
Why not just turn the phone off in a movie?


Here in the Middle East, they have devices that render mobile service inaccessible in theaters. So leave it on if you want; you won't be making any calls.


****WANT****
Posted by: CrackersMcCheese

Re: non-musical (business / professional) ringtones? - 22/07/2005 13:34

You get them in the UK as well but they are illegal. Some hotels have been known to install them to force guests to use the hotel phone. They were all over the Sunday papers about a year back.
Posted by: Heather

Re: non-musical (business / professional) ringtones? - 22/07/2005 21:38

Quote:
I couldn't agree more, I could understand if he/she was a heart surgeon on call or something


Here in the NYC, heart surgeons on call carry beepers (my sister is one) because they 1) unlike cell phones, they don't mess with some of the medical equipment and 2) they tend to work better in buildings and subways. Less static and interference on a land line phone, and there really isn't much room for error in that line of work.