Thursday, September 20, 2007

Are Free Ringtones Really Free


Ringtone advertisements are everywhere these days. This is not surprising, given the fact that everyone seems to have a cellphone. With such a ubiquitous device, people want to personalize their cellphone to the best of their abilities. And certainly, having any number of ringtones is a terrific way to do this.


And ringtones are definitely not the only way to customize a cellphone. People can get wallpapers, or images that act as backgrounds for the display on their device. With newer cellphones having faster processors, wireless games have also become a popular addition to many cellphone models. So, now you can do lots more with your cellphone. These devices are now often used as an expression of the style and personality of the person that owns the cellphone.


many firms have jumped into the ringtone market hoping to capitalize on this desire for self expression. Even the carriers themselves are now selling ringtones to their subscribers. The carriers and many other companies use a common business model for providing these ringtones - the user pays a fee of around one and three dollars per ring tone in order to buy and download the ringtone.


But some companies seem to offer free ringtones to consumers. The ads tell users to enter their phone number and they will be able to download a bunch of free ringtones. Is this the real deal? Well, yes and no.


Look carefully at the small print. In virtually all cases, by entering the phone number you are also agreeing to sign up for a ringtone subscription plan that costs around ten dollars per month. This subscription plan gives you some number of credits to spend every month on ringtones and wallpapers. By signing up, yes you do get some number of extra credits for some extra ringtones. So to some extent these are free ringtones, but you only get the free ones by paying for a fairly costly monthly service.


So what are the alternatives? There are some companies that provide software tools that let you to create your own ringtones from your own set of CDs or MP3 files. A service like this will also let you use your own digital photos to upload custom wallpapers for your phone. If you are computer savvy and are able to spend some time doing this, then this can be a good option.


For people who are not willing to spend time making their own ringtones, there are other services that give you unlimited ringtone downloads for a flat fee. Usually these services are much cheaper than those services that deceptively advertise free ringtones. So it usually is rewarding to research ringtone deals fairly extensively before committing to a purchase.








Marc Ilgen is an expert in cellphone technology. His website http://www.kewlcell.com discusses unlimited ringtone download programs in more detail. For an original version of this and other articles related to this topic, see cellphone articles

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