iPhone owners can now buy ringtones for 99 cents, with some pain
iPhone owners can now buy ringtones for 99 cents, with some pain | Tech news blog – CNET News.com
I had pretty much given up on blogging the stupidity of the RIAA and the way record companies treat customers, and the futility of DRM. Not that I feel any differently now, I just tired of writing about it. However, I have to get this off my chest.
I am an Apple guy. My main computer is a MacBook, and the desktop that the rest of the family uses is my older G5 Power Mac. I have an iPod (old, 3G, no video, no pictures, not even in color, but it holds 37.4 GB of good music). I read tech and Apple specific blogs and the like. I don’t have an iPhone. If someone gave me one, I’d use it, but I can’t see paying even $400 for a low capacity iPod, that gets email but doesn’t sync that with my computer, and wants to MAKE ME PAY A DOLLAR TO HAVE A SONG THAT I ALREADY BOUGHT PLAY WHENEVER I GET A PHONE CALL!!!!
The iPhone is a music player. You should be able to play songs that you have purchased whenever you like, even if that is the moment that you receive a call. To be asked to pay ANOTHER dollar for that right is ludicrous.
I paid $40 for my cell phone, and whenever I get a call, I hear Ornette. Mingus for text messages, and Sun Ra for voice mail. No extra charge, just a little tech savvy required.
What amazes me is that, at least over here, ringtones are 2-3 times more expensive than an MP3, despite being shorter (and often, poor facsimiles).
I am even more amazed by mobile “services” that, for example, will tell you who you were in a previous life if you send them a premium-priced text message. Do you have ads for that kind of thing in the US? It just seems like such a bald-faced scam, I can’t believe it’s legal.
Ringtones on non-music player phones are pretty expensive here too. Usually $2-3, and sometimes they expire after 3 months. My phone has a web browser and will play any mp3 as a ringtone, so I can make an mp3, load it to my site, browse to it on the phone, save it, then use it as a ringtone. It is a bit of a hassle, but free.
Is it pompous to have a recording of yourself for a ringtone? I don’t, but…
I haven’t seen offer of past life exploration by text message, but there are lots of stupid games and ringtone ads. Lots of radio/TV “voting” too.
There’s lots of stuff that I can’t believe is legal.
The best comment I’ve heard in a long time I don’t even remember where I read it, but it went something like this:
Like you, the naivity of the RIAA so astounds me that I have bored with writing about it, and what astounds me even more is that I have had such little success convincing other musicians and music fans not to play into their hands. Kinda reminds me of Harriet Tubman’s comment that she could have saved a lot more slaves if only she could convince they that they were slaves.