WHEN TONE DEAF IS A GOOD THING
okay, so the iTunes ringtone show seems to be a bit of a wet fart, but it turns out Apple’s hands were kind of tied by the RIAA. the consensus has been “why should i pay a 2nd time to do something different with the music i’ve already paid once to own?” and it’s a valid point.
but one simple thing has been lost in all the discussion: must ringtones be musical? correct me if i’m wrong, but early telephones signaled incoming calls without bleating the receiving party’s horrid taste in music.
in fact, i noted once before that most if not all commercials for the iPhone end by showing off its high-tech ringing power with a simple, elegant and nonmusical ring, one that (if you can believe it) isn’t actually offered as a default ringtone shipping with the iPhone! (go here for a mixed down preview of this phantom ring, which i call the David Taylor.)
so here’s my question: where on iTunes can i pay for the David Taylor ring? because i want it. i want to pay money for it, even 99 cents for it. can i do that? because i can justify that purchase without having to doublejustify it. in fact, i want to shop from a whole store of presorted, quality-approved, professionally mastered nonmusical ringtones.
i’m guessing that there is a caché of ringtone composing talent ready to unleash its masterworks on the world’s iPhones. just because the iPhone’s default tones are dogshit does not mean you can’t have nice rings, especially if you’re willing to pay for them. so let’s get on that, Apple. let freedom ring [ed. - barf].
and if you think that the Old Fashioned Telephone ringtone is a suitable facsimile, please put your phone on vibrate.
