#TAWKIt Ep 5: What happened to the craze about ringtones?

Starting off with quite a tough question.

What would be more of a status symbol to you?

The type/model of phones you have OR just having a phone line?

Pssst…how much does a sim card cost again?

Believe it or not, just a little over 2 decades ago, having a phone “line” was a status symbol. (Emphasis on line and over 2 decades – so this isn’t referring to the launch of GSM in Nigeria).

Getting it in record time also was a reflection of your affiliation with those in corridors of power. It meant you had “leg”.

Those were the days of analogue and digital telephone.

Let’s break it down for you, so this doesn’t seem too far fetched.

The tone

Once upon a country, there were so many phones laying around with “no tones”. Having a tone meant your line had been activated after being installed and of course, having a tone meant you could make and receive calls.

It is important to note that this activation could take months and years as the phone installation was usually a fob-off that would mean a lot of things. This included you having to pay for cables and wires they would “draw” (yeah, that was the term then) from their end to yours which sometimes depended on where you lived also. *Pheeew*.

So, just that uninterrupted humming sound whenever you picked up the receiver, was bliss to any household or individual.

Phones have come a long way since the first telephone call ever placed on March 10, 1876 when Alexander Graham Bell called his assistant, Mr. Thomas Watson, but we’re not going that far. We’ve had more recognizable phones and evolving ringtones since.

To more familiar stuff…

Naught-Nine-Naught (090): This is basically the first mobile phone in Nigeria but it was quite expensive and an exclusive preserve to those who could afford it at the time. A status symbol in fact.

On this episode of “Tech As We Know It”, we take a look through the evolution of ringtones and volume levels from when it was just a tone to alert you of when a call was coming through, to when it became a status thing to show off and now to what we may not be interested in anymore.

Hello from The Other Side…

That would be a line from the song Nigerians who hadn’t still gotten their lines activated got to sing to the Nigerian Telecommunications people after they now had their phones thanks to GSM – so, no more shakara.

The next three lines of the song would still be relevant for this point. Especially the third “to tell you I’m sorry for all the things that I’ve done”. That would be the installation/activation team apologizing.

The switch in tone

Phones from 2001-2005 came with monophonic ringtones for calls or text. These tones which created sequencing technology, sounded basic; playing one note at a time.

The volumes of these ringtones were quite loud and jarring.

Remember the trademark Nokia 3310 “Nokia Tone”? That was a monophonic ringtone.

We thought the difference was clear

Polyphonic ringtone: Instead of playing one note at the time, this ringtone could play up to 40 notes at the time; emulating different musical instruments whenever your phone rang. It was a “level” tone. The difference was clear.

Some questions back in the day went like: Is your phone a “monophonic phone” or a “polyphonic phone?”

It was that much of a big deal.

Leaders of the pack

Brands like Nokia were specifically famous for having some of the best preset ringtones which contributed to the sale of its products as users were also on the look out for unique sounding and melodious tunes. Tunes like “Nostalgia”, “Espionage”, “Cackle” to name a few were some user favourites.

(What were some of your favourites?)

I’ve got the power…to be different

Like customized plate numbers, only that it could be accessible to anyone who owned a phone which could play polyphonic ringtones, one of the most fascinating things back then was the ability to compose ringtones. That was probably akin to being tech savvy. This was majorly because you didn’t want to go with the limited preset ringtones and couldn’t send songs to your phones via Infrared.

Okay, time out.

*We interrupt this programme to bring you a special bulletin*

Just in case you are wondering what Infrared is. This is how best to explain it so you don’t laugh at people who actually made use of that technology: It was a method of sending and receiving songs to mobile devices by ensuring the devices infrared ports were pointing at each other and that there were no obstructions between the devices.

Back to the story.

Tunes like Styl-Plus’ “Olufunmi” and Fat Joe’s “What’s Luv” made the list of youth friendly tunes for composure while parents gleaned towards more religious tunes for composure.

Soon after, we got the chance to download songs to phones and play them as recordings which lasted 30 seconds with True tone ringtones. Even though true tone had the MP3 like quality.

This is where ringtones really became a thing as people felt the need to download the latest songs to show they were up to date, and use ringtones that would suit their personalities.

What this also meant was that your ringtone could be an indicator to your personality type and potentially attract people to start off a conversation with you. If the person was audacious or obnoxious enough, he/she would request for you to send that tune and others if available.

A tune just for you

With growth and expansion in the Nigerian music industry came an avenue for telecom subscribers to serenade their callers via caller tunes. There was also a trend of assigning different ringtones to the people in your life and telcos in Nigeria fueled this.

Those defining moments

The highlight about ringtones is the impression they potentially could leave with people. More so, back in the day when having the hottest tracks or goofy tones set as your ringtone was in vogue, ringtones could either make or mar your reputation. There were always those uncomfortable moments when your phone rang and didn’t match the kind of image you portrayed.

Those defining moments most commonly occurred: at spiritual gatherings and executive meetings.

iPhone 1….(Mature beeps peeps’)

With every trend comes an end, more like with every phase comes a phasing out as people eventually got tired of having songs play out as ringtones. Although some mature people had started opting for plain ringtones with the Blackberry, the birth of the iPhone series phased out having the hottest tracks as ringtones.

Just like the iconic Nokia tone back in the day, the iPhone tone gradually became a status symbol to indicate you had an iPhone and didn’t do ringtones.

They just may have succeeded because a lot of people have stopped letting their phones ring out or more commonly have reduced volume levels.

Where we are today

The era of ringtones seems to have come to an end as people are more concerned about brand names and phone features but we’d never forget what once united us.

I just have the normal ringtone, unfortunately.

Washed Out

What are your thoughts? Do you still have the hottest tracks set as your ringtone? Do you think ringtones would still evolve or has it gotten to its peak? Let us know in the comment section.

Here’s an informative link you might find useful: http://ringtones.specialtyansweringservice.net/