This post was published 4 years 5 months 6 days ago and its content may not be valid anymore.

I chuckle whenever I see stories about cell phone carriers making the bulk of their profit from downloaded ringtones. Have you ever looked at the charges incurred when downloading ringtones? Cingular charges up to $2.50 a pop for a “Super Tone”. That one time fee doesn’t even cover data costs that may and most likely will be incurred. I’m not going to be another statistic for corporate ringtone mongering carriers. I’ll make my own ringtone thank you very much.

The idea here is to be resourceful. A quick Google search will pull up hundreds of results for using pc cables to transfer ringtones and web based services that send uploaded files to your handset. All these methods will cost you deniro from your pocketo which is what we’re trying to avoid.

This is my view on the whole ringtone cash cow. Ringtones are like the little toilet paper squares you wipe your ass with. When you’re at a fine restaurant – like McDonalds – you’re not charged extra before you walk into the bathroom. Your presence alone is creating profit. I could get a .99 cent Cajun McChicken and still wipe my ass for free. Cell phone carriers already cost you an arm n’ leg, ringtones should be FREE. I understand yada yada, they’re only trying to make a few extra bucks. Ok moving on…

This how-to is for resourceful creative individuals. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to work the street corners the last few nights so you’ll have to forgive me for not testing this with every major carrier. The idea behind this how-to is correct, so try it out for yourself and report back with your results.

What you’ll need:

• A computer with decent speakers
• Your mp3 music library
• A MMS capable phone with the ability to save attachments
• Quick fingers (Patience you’ll find out why soon enough)
• Creativity and a little flexibility

Step one: Hey Mr. DJ

The first step is choosing your music file. Although you’re musical tastes may be unique, I highly recommend you save the ‘Hit me baby one more time’ for private listening. Being the young stud, I opted for ‘Pretty Ricky – Grind With Me’. Since the MMS attachment length is limited (usually 30 seconds), find your favorite portion of the track and queue it for recording. For my example track I queued iTunes at 13 seconds. (Keeps your mouse pointer hovering over the ‘Play’ button)

Step two: Compose your MMS

Navigate to the messaging menu on your handset and choose ‘Create MMS’ or ‘Create Pix Message’, ect. In the ‘Send To’ field, enter a string of random numbers like 123. These next steps will differ from handset to handset. What you want to do is find the option to add an audio clip. You should then be able to record your audio clip after the beep. I’m sure you know where to go from here. Position the mic end of the phone near one of your speakers. With a little creativity, you’ll figure out how to record your queued track the moment the beep signals you to start your recording. I’ll admit that it may take a few tries to capture a decent recording using this method. After recording your track, use your phones preview option to decide whether or not the recording is acceptable. Try decreasing the base on your computer speakers before recording.

Step three: Fast fingers

Remember the random number you added in the ‘Send To’ field? You have to enter some sort of “address� otherwise your phone won’t try to send the message. This is where the fast fingers come into play. Immediately after hitting ‘Send’, cancel the message delivery. If done fast enough, the message delivery will be canceled saving you from being charged. The canceled message should be saved in your ‘Drafts’ folder. Navigate to the ‘Drafts’ folder and edit your message. The options menu should have a save attachments command. If so, save the audio clip you recorded earlier.

Final: Cha-ching

If all the steps above were successfully completed, your audio file should now be accessible from your ringtones menu. From now on you can hesitate when answering phone calls just so other people can listen to you custom ringtone… cheapo.

Conclusion

If you happened to read through this whole tutorial, you’re probably saying “I bet your ringtone sounds like crap�. For the record, my musical tastes are not up for discussion! If you’re referring to the audio quality, I admit that the clarity is a smidgen below that of paid ringtones. I’m sure if my recording studio ala bedroom were burp free, I would have been able to capture a near perfect audio recording. That’s where the creativity comes into play. If you want to go pro, drape a heavy blanket around yourself, the phone, and your speakers to shield your phone mic from extraneous noises.

Disclaimer: Recall my tip concerning fast fingers? UNEASYsilence will not be held responsible if you are indeed charged for an undelivered MMS message. I’ve tested this on Verizon and T-Mobile accounts without incurring any extra charges. You agree that the “Poor man custom ringtones guide� is just that, a guide. Try it once and check your online account balance for any changes.