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Friday, June 22, 2007
Okay. So the iPhone is set to sale in one week and the frenzy is getting insane. I’m sure there’s going to be tailgate parties nationwide at AT&T stores everywhere. From Golden State to the Gator state and in-between, iPhone buyers will give AT&T and Apple Store employees a night to remember for some time. I’m hoping to be one of the lucky people to have a new iPhone in my hand sometime after the 6 PM (local time) sale. I just can’t wait. But what’s up with reports of no custom ringtones via Apple’s feature list?
I can’t understand for a phone that has at least 4GB of storage and IS a music player won’t allow you to tap into those songs to let you know when Steve Jobs is calling you direct. Why, oh why, Steve? Is it because AT&T wants to insure you can download and pay for its ringtones? Maybe. But seeing how other Microsoft Windows Mobile phones from AT&T allow you to have custom ringtones, I can’t see this as the deal. I mean, it just doesn’t make sense. I keep saying it out loud, “4 GB of music — more than any other phone out of the box — and I can’t use one stinking song as a ringtone!” Many laughed at the ROKR when it first came out, but hey, at least it had custom ringtones!
I sure hope this is mere oversight on Apple’s part or some silly negotiation issue with AT&T, but man, Apple has got to correct the most simple and basic feature of nearly every phone on the market today. How can the most innovative phone not be so smart about who’s calling?
June 22nd, 2007 at 18:05
I think it’s like many apple “features,” if you don’t ask and don’t tell, hack away – just don’t expect ‘official support.’ As a concession to AT&T, they are not going to make it obvious but if you really, really want to – they are not going to build a huge roadblock …
June 22nd, 2007 at 18:05
I think it’s like many apple “features,” if you don’t ask and don’t tell, hack away – just don’t expect ‘official support.’ As a concession to AT&T, they are not going to make it obvious but if you really, really want to – they are not going to build a huge roadblock …
June 22nd, 2007 at 19:12
You can make your own ringtones just like you can rip your DVD’s into iPhone compatible movies. The free software is out there.
Don’t tell anyone.
June 22nd, 2007 at 19:32
Eh …. it’s about advertising. The Apple ringtone will no doubt be as distinctive as the OS startup chime. Everytime an iPhone goes off everyone has listened to an advert. Later you’ll be able to choose rings.
June 22nd, 2007 at 20:05
There’s some interview out there with Jobs in which he’s asked about using music from iTunes as a ringtone and he says it’s certainly technically possible but then he rubbed his fingers together as if to say “it’ll cost money.” I think the current agreement iTunes has with the record labels procludes using them as ringtones. Yep, in fact if you read the iTunes agreement:
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/service.html
you will find this:
(viii) You may not use Products as a musical “ringer” in connection with phone calls.
Sooooo, I seriously doubt Apple cares one way or the other since they make their money on the hardware; this is undoubtedly the big Five record companies who want to charge you $3 for ringtones or whatever. Hopefully, once the iPhone is rolling we’ll see a change in iTunes that lets music used as a ring tone somehow.
June 22nd, 2007 at 20:34
Ian has it right. The iPhone ring tone will be the “White Ear Buds” for the iPhone. This is great marketing.
June 22nd, 2007 at 20:38
Marcos is exactly right. The labels establish what the sellers can sell. iTunes downloads are not supposed to be ringtones, so Apple cannot provide software to turn those downloads into ringtones. (If you know how, go ahead, Apple just can’t facilitate it unless they want their store to shut down.) It’s just like Apple can’t put a DVD ripper into iTunes software, even though it would make a lot of sense.
June 22nd, 2007 at 20:39
You didn’t mention the many ring tone choices available on the phone. The demo video on Apple site has a section showing how you change them.
June 22nd, 2007 at 22:42
REB, the ringtone choices are merely for all calls. Not for Caller X or Caller N. Further, this post is meant to focus on the ability, or rather inability, to use songs in your iTunes library as ringtones.
Interesting catch on the EULA, Marcos. But I don’t download music from the iTunes Store because of DRM (and EMI has nothing for me right now), so my CDs I rip don’t apply to this.
I hope someone does come up with a hack for this. In the Windows Mobile world, anyone can make an app (like Ringo) to do this but with the lack of an SDK for the iPhone, I don’t know how long before this happens.
June 23rd, 2007 at 14:06
In the macworld presentation there was a ringtones tab in itunes so i think there is some way to change ringtones.