Students express personality by changing tunes
The versatility of phone ring tones has made it possible to show a bit of personality and expression through a cell phone ring.
During the holiday season, many students are displaying their holiday cheer through ring tones.
“I don’t change my ring tone for the holidays, but I know a lot of people that have Christmas songs as their phone rings right now. My friend Alysia changes her phone ring once or twice a month-right now I think she has some rap song that has been remixed into a holiday song,” said Sarah Atid, sophomore international affairs major.
A new company, Phonezoo, announced the launch of Phonezoo.com in November. The company is dedicated to helping consumers easily create, find and share personalized ring tones for free.
“The market is already enormous – according to Mary Meeker, Morgan Stanley Internet analyst, ‘currently, personalized data services for mobile devices, from ring tones to screensavers, are a $20 billion global business.’ The massive mobile generation continually challenges the status quo, demanding more personalization and choices,” according to a Phonezoo press release.
Paying for a ring tone is not high on the list of priorities for most students, but when asked if they would be more creative with their phone rings if they could change them for free.
“I would probably like to have Jingle Bells playing on my phone if I can get the song for free,” said Jasmine Neuroth, freshman geology major.
“Yeah,” agreed her sister, Amber Neuroth, who visited Boulder for the weekend. “I’d get Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer.”
The press release says Phonezoo is “completely free to consumers” and that until now, most customers had to pay around $2.50 for rings sold by wireless carriers or pay-per-ringtone services. Phonezoo’s rings come from existing music and audio files in the users library or files that are publicly available on the Internet.
“I think free ring tones are really exciting,” said Jessica Weiss, a freshman biological sciences major. “I like to swing dance, so I would love to have some swing music on my phone.”
For more information on how to get your own personalized ringtone, visit http://www.phonezoo.com.
