Why does my phone play music when someone calls?

When your phone rings and a silly song or musical tone plays, you’re experiencing a ringtone in action. Ringtones are short musical clips or songs that play when an incoming call or text message is received on a mobile phone.

The main purpose of a ringtone is to alert the phone’s owner about the incoming communication. Ringtones allow people to personalize and customize their phone’s notification sounds to represent their personality or interests.

While your smartphone’s default ringtone may seem trivial, ringtones have a surprisingly long and fascinating history intertwined with pop culture and technology. Understanding the origins and evolution of ringtones provides insight into how mobile phones have shaped society and culture over the past few decades.

History of Ringtones

The origins of ringtones can be traced back to landline telephones in the late 19th century. Alexander Graham Bell’s original telephone design produced a ringing sound to alert the recipient of an incoming call. These ringtones were purely mechanical at first, generated by actual bells or other devices inside early telephones.

According to the Specialty Answering Service, the first telephone ringtones were produced in 1878 by the Stock Exchange Telephone Company in London. These ringtones used adjustable electromagnetic bells that could create different ring tones for different subscribers (The History of Ringtones | Specialty Answering Service). This allowed users to identify incoming calls by the ringtone used.

Over the next century, telephones continued using simple preset mechanical ringtones. Customizable electronic ringtones were not possible until the advent of digital cellular networks and mobile phones in the 1990s and early 2000s (Wikipedia).

How Ringtones Work

Ringtones are essentially short digital audio files that are stored on your mobile phone. When an incoming call or notification is received, the phone’s software instructs the built-in speakers or headphones to play the selected ringtone audio file. The ringtone serves to alert the phone’s owner about the incoming communication.

Most mobile phones come with some default ringtones pre-installed. However, users can install custom ringtones of their choice, provided the audio file is in a supported format like MP3 or M4R. The phone stores these ringtone files into its internal memory or external SD card.

Technically speaking, a ringtone is simply a looping audio track encoded in a small file size. When a call comes in, the phone’s software plays this audio file in a loop from the speakers to create the ringing sound. The ringtone loops continuously until the call is answered or disconnects.

The audio hardware including amplifier, DAC, speakers, etc. reproduce the digital ringtone audio in the audible form. The ringtone volume can be controlled using the phone’s volume buttons. Headphones plugged into the headset jack will also play the ringtone audio when a call comes in.

So in summary, ringtones are short looping sound clips stored as digital audio files on the phone’s storage, that get played from the speakers or headphones when a call or notification arrives to alert the user.[1]

Default Ringtones

Most phones come with a set of preloaded ringtones that users can choose from to assign as their default ringtone. These are generic ringtones that the phone manufacturers include as options for customers who don’t want to purchase or download custom ringtones.

Some common default ringtones found on popular phone models include:
– Marimba – A xylophone-sounding ringtone featured on many Android phones like Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel models (Android Stock Ringtones).

– Opening – The classic iPhone ringtone since the first iPhone in 2007.
– Pulse – Electronic ringing tones found as defaults on phones like those from Huawei and Honor (What are the default ringtones?).

These default ringtones allow users to make calls right out of the box without having to customize their ringtone options if they wish to use a simple, generic ringtone provided by the manufacturer.

Custom Ringtones

One of the most popular reasons people want custom ringtones is to set unique ringtones for contacts. Rather than having the same default ringtone play for every incoming call, users can assign special ringtones to specific contacts in their address book. This allows them to identify who is calling without even having to look at their phone. For example, someone could set a fun song for when their best friend calls, a silly sound effect for their mom, or even a personalized recording for their significant other.

There are a few different ways to set custom ringtones on smartphones:

• On iPhones, users can buy ringtones from the iTunes Store and sync them to their device. There are also third party apps like GarageBand that allow you to create your own ringtones.
• On Android phones, apps like Zedge allow you to download a wide selection of free ringtones. You can also make ringtones directly on your phone by clipping audio files.

Once the custom ringtone files are on the phone, users can go to the contact in their address book, hit edit, then under ringtone select the custom sound to assign it. This makes identifying callers effortless and adds a personal touch to every incoming call.

Ringtone Formats

The most common audio formats used for ringtones include:

• MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) – This format allows small file sizes and was widely supported on early mobile phones. MIDI ringtones play monophonic musical notes.
• MP3 – This popular compressed audio format allows ringtone files to have better sound quality while still being reasonably small in file size. MP3 became a standard ringtone format supported on many phones.
• AAC – Advanced Audio Coding provides good audio quality at low bitrates. AAC ringtones may have the .m4r file extension on iPhones.
• WAV – An uncompressed audio format that provides high fidelity sound but results in large file sizes. WAV ringtones may have reduced quality if compressed by the phone.
• AMR (Adaptive Multi-Rate) – An audio compression format optimized for speech that allows low bitrate files. Commonly used for ringtones on earlier phones.

Phones will often convert ringtones into a compatible compressed format such as MP3 or AAC to optimize storage space while retaining audio quality. The specific formats supported may vary across different phone models and brands.

Social Aspect of Ringtones

Ringtones have long been a way for people to express their personality and interests through sound. In the early days of mobile phones, ringtones were one of the only ways to customize your device and make it your own. The default ringtones that came with phones were generic and boring, so selecting a custom ringtone was a chance to showcase your style and musical tastes.

According to Social Media Today, your choice of ringtone can be an extension of your personal brand and the impression you want to make. Pop culture ringtones, like TV show theme songs or snippets of hit songs, communicate your interests and what you find entertaining or meaningful. Avant-garde ringtones and notification sounds might brand you as artsy or offbeat. Funny ringtones can show you have a playful personality.

Of course there are limits to what a ringtone can say about someone, as noted in this blog post. But ringtones remain a simple way to express your identity through sound and give people a sense of who you are.

Ringtone Industry

The ringtone industry exploded in the early 2000s as mobile phones with customizable ringtones became popular. Companies emerged to take advantage of this new market, producing and selling ringtones based on popular songs and compositions. According to this article, the global ringtone market was estimated at $4 billion in 2008.

The ringtone business model involved licensing songs or melodies from artists and record labels to create mobile-friendly ringtones. Companies would then sell these ringtones, keeping a percentage of the profit. Some major players in the ringtone industry included Zingy, the mobile content arm of Sony Music, and mBlox, a mobile transaction company.

At the peak of ringtone popularity, top artists and record companies could make millions on hit song ringtones. For example, Lil Wayne’s record label made over $10 million just from selling ringtones of his song “Lollipop” in 2008 according to this market report. Ringtones provided a lucrative new revenue stream for the music industry.

Decline of Ringtones

Ringtones became less popular with the rise of smartphones in the late 2000s. As smartphones gained more features and functionality, like mobile apps, mobile web browsing, and multimedia capabilities, ringtones became less of a priority and focal point for users. Additionally, with smartphone operating systems like iOS and Android, the default ringtones were more subtle and toned down compared to classic Nokia ringtones. Users also had access to change ringtones easily through the OS settings or app stores, so having a customized ringtone was no longer a status symbol or novelty.

According to a 2018 article in The Philadelphia Inquirer, “To explain the decline of ringtones, experts have pointed to the fall of Nokia and the rise of the iPhone. Holdouts like Heckenberger say they just don’t get why a pop song ringtone fell out of favor.” [1]

A Reddit thread also discussed how ringtones are no longer as relevant with smartphones that provide constant auditory and visual notifications. As one user wrote, “The best explanation I saw for the decline of ringtones is to do with the fact that phones now make an abundance of noise from constant app notifications and such.” [2]

Conclusion

Ringtones have played an essential role in the history and evolution of mobile phones. While basic at first, ringtones became a way for people to express their personality through custom sounds and show off the latest technology. The rise of polyphonic and MP3 ringtones demonstrated the expanding capabilities of phones. At their peak, ringtones fueled a multi-billion dollar industry of licensed music, TV shows, movies and more. While less prominent today, ringtones remain the iconic sounds of incoming calls and notifications. The ubiquitous marimba ringtone reminds us how far mobile technology has come.

Ringtones originated as simple beeps to mimic landline phones. As mobile phones advanced, synthesized MIDI tunes became popular default ringtones. With polyphonic ringtones, people could create melodies with multiple notes. The development of the MP3 format revolutionized ringtones by enabling customized audio clips. Users embraced ringtones as a form of personal expression and brands leveraged them for marketing. However, the rise of customizable notification sounds and streaming music services led to the decline of ringtones.

At their core, ringtones fulfill the vital function of alerting us to incoming calls and messages. The sounds continue to evolve alongside mobile technology. While no longer a pop culture phenomenon, ringtones retain a special place in the history of mobile phones.