Yet Another Thing The Recording Industry Wants To Charge For: Endtones

from the oh,-please,-please-make-it-stop dept

This has to be a joke, right? Earlier this week we were noting how the greed over ringtone sales was leading the recording industry and the mobile industry to seek out other ways to charge you yet again for the same song you probably already purchased. Ringback tones have now been around for a little while (replacing the "ringing" noise that people hear when they call you -- meaning, yes, you're paying for someone else to listen to music as you'll never hear it yourself) and have succeeded mainly in confusing a lot of people into thinking that they dialed incorrectly. On Monday we were talking about SMStones, as the latest idea to get you to pay again for an even shorter clip of music... but that's already out of date. Now people are talking about endtones, hang-up tones and drop tones -- bits of music to play when a mobile phone conversation ends via people hanging up or a call is dropped. While there may be something to said for knowing when a call gets dropped (to avoid that awkward moment where you just keep talking and wonder why the other person is being so quiet), are there really people who are going to pay to have a special song play whenever they're reminded that their mobile operator's coverage sucks?
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  1. identicon
    Whoa, 26 Jan 2006 @ 4:01am

    Well...

    This is probably due to the fact that ringtones are totally phone dependant. Most phones can be linked to with just a $2.00 cable and a free copy of bitpim to upload ringtone. Ringback tones and the like are controlled by the network itself, and harder to crack into.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Josh, 26 Jan 2006 @ 5:18am

    Re: Well...

    Safe to say that ringback tones are next to impossible to crack into.

    If you have the access to alter ringbacktones, you're in the switch, and can make whatever billing changes you like. I don't think RBT's would be the first thing you'd go after.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    JohnRoss1968, 26 Jan 2006 @ 6:35am

    How much $$$ goes to THE ARTIST

    It would be interesting to see how much money from ringtone sales actually goes to the artist and how much the RIAA pockets.
    With a regualr song the artist only get a very small percentage of the profits. The RIAA says that is due to costs of marketing. The cost of people to make the Artwork ect ect ect.
    But with Ringtones there isnt any real overhead. So the artists should get waaaayy more of a cut .
    It would be interesting to see how much , i mean after all , the RIAA is only out to help THE ARTISTS (I cant believe I typed that with a straight face)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Jared, 26 Jan 2006 @ 6:39am

    Oh boy! It plays music!

    What ever happened to phones that simply ring when someone calls you? My cell phone plays music when it starts and plays music when you shut it off... by default. There is no option to disable this (that I have found yet). I bought a phone not a jukebox!

    The fact that so many people pay for ringtones is beyond me. I suppose I'm too old to appreciate this new, amazing technology (28 years...)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    ZOMG CENSORED, 26 Jan 2006 @ 6:45am

    Damnit...

    ...Now I'm going to hear Madona's "Hung Up" every damn place I go...

    "Every little thing that you say or do
    I'm hung up
    I'm hung up on you
    Waiting for your call
    Baby night and day
    I'm fed up
    I'm tired of waiting on you"

    et al

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Dennis, 26 Jan 2006 @ 6:57am

    How ringbacks and droptones should work...

    The problem with ringbacks is that there are playing to the wrong phone.

    There is no reason why the rickbacks that I pick shouldn't be heard by me when I call someone else. If I pick the song, i'm not going to be confused when I hear it instead of ringing. Plus I'm going to get sick of it sooner when I hear it all the time, so I will want to buy a new one.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    eastside, 26 Jan 2006 @ 7:13am

    Re: Oh boy! It plays music!

    I'm with Jared on this one. How annoying is it to be standing somewhere and hear some badly digitized rendition of Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers start playing in someone's purse or pocket? Especially when they decide to let it ring through to voice mail and it plays for 40 seconds. If you aren't going to answer your phone, turn it off.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Jan 2006 @ 7:31am

    why listen to callers bad taste in music when...

    there are already phones that let you pick which ringtone/song you want it to play when a certain person calls?

    that and back to the point of the article, whats the point of having music play for that last few seconds before you end the connection after the other person has??? (except like they said, being reminded that whoever lost the call has a bad carrier)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Jan 2006 @ 7:39am

    Re: How ringbacks and droptones should work...

    You are completly right. If you heard the song, then you would like the service more (because you are getting something out of it), and would reccomend it to other people. Also, what if someone's phone cannot play the song that is the ringback? Then what happens? I'll tell you: you're paying the phone company for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!

    P.S. please don't sue me because you're upset at what I'm saying and am anonymous :-)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    joey, 26 Jan 2006 @ 8:45am

    Do we need to hear music every second of the day?

    (and do we have to pay for that privilege?)

    I am one of those people that listen to music every second of the work day. Why? because i am tethered to the computer anyway. and with my short commute to and fro work, sure, i listen to some CDs.

    I guess that is why i don't get people walking around with white wires sticking out of their ears.

    When i get home, i don't listen to music. Don't feel like it.

    Of course, it may be because i only buy CD's from artists that use Non-RIAA based recording companies, and are not featured on "fuse" or MTV2", so the kids moan whenever they hear my stuff (you should hear them complain when i drive them to school).

    Anyway, my point is this; Why? why even spend the cash so someone can hear a song instead of a reassuring ring? to be cool?

    I dunno. i suppose i am too old to get it. Yep.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    dozier, 26 Jan 2006 @ 9:02am

    Re: Well...

    I use my MP3 palyer cable to my Motorola V160 and some drivers i found online

    i have my gf as my background and custom pics show when peopel call. I have tune from Secret of Mana as my ring tone with the james bond theme for when my cousin calls

    of course...im also the guy who torrents for videos and watches them on the computer because it has a bigger screen and better speakes than the TV

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Landon, 26 Jan 2006 @ 9:33am

    No Subject Given

    I believe that a person should have whatever ringtone they want. If they want to pay for it let them. For those people that dont want them, or dont get why people have them, then dont have ringtones. As for me, I dont get why someone would want sms or endtones, so... My solution is IM NOT GOING TO GET THEM! As for the people that dont like listening to other peoples ringtones... gee, I feel so sorry for you. I mean, I am sure that you do something for 15 seconds in your day that other people dont like. Get over it.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Carl, 26 Jan 2006 @ 10:31am

    Re: Well...

    I thought originally phones were made to talk and mp3 players were made for music. I tell you sooner or later we will all be walking around looking like robots, wires hanging all around us. now we got razr wire sunglasses, phone with iTunes and a bunch of other stuff. I am not sure where we're going with this.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Brent, 26 Jan 2006 @ 10:38am

    Re: Well...

    I .

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    Brent, 26 Jan 2006 @ 10:39am

    Re: Well...

    I ?php echo "that" ?.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    Anonymous, 26 Jan 2006 @ 12:55pm

    Re: Well...

    Hey dozier! You got it right on the nose, RESOURCEFULNESS is the way to get around the f***ing RIAA and all its bullsh*t, the mp3 cable to the phone and the torrent-ing is what I always do with a bit of hacking and d-loading now and then, hehehe sweet! Anyway why cant everyone find ways to get around these impedements, just get cables, drivers, phones/mp3 players and the techno-knowhow to do it!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    Blake eggemeyer, 26 Jan 2006 @ 6:39pm

    Re: No Subject Given

    My phone has preloaded ring tones (not songs, just odd ring tones), but there is no 'ring' option, i must pick an obnoxous ring tone from a preloaded list. and it must make an annoying anouncement that its turning on or off, kind of like the intel 'babumbabum'.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. identicon
    Phone Tech Support Guy, 27 Jan 2006 @ 6:49am

    No Subject Given

    Yet another way to drive innocent tech support workers insane. As if dealing with stupid customers for 8+ hours a day isn't enough, now I'll have to listen to their horrible choice of music!

    link to this | view in thread ]

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