truth B told

I have an average size, non-flip, cell phone that allows me to call my friends. It doesn't take pictures. There's no pretty color screen. No games. No calculator to figure out...(what do people use their phone calculator for?) And it comes with about 8 options for ringtones.

I can't download new ringtones in my phone. I can't set different songs to different caller numbers. I just hear a basic little ring that let's me know someone wants to talk to me. It's simple. It's boring. But it works.

Some people would be miserable to be in my shoes. They need the smallest, coolest, techiest phone available (I'm not talking about my in-laws who still have a 4-pound bag phone in their car.) Some people always have the best gadgets, and trendiest electronic stuff. There's a lot of people out there. And now the commercial market is grabbing the bull by it's musical horns and running with it.

According to Reuters:

Billboard Magazine is launching a new chart that will track the popularity of cell phone ringtones, as they are called.

The new chart, known as the Billboard Hot Ringtones Chart, will reflect the "Top 20" polyphonic ringtone sales for each week, including song title, artist, previous week's position and number of weeks on the chart.

Polyphonic tones are the dominant force in the ringtone market and are created using electronic synthesizers.

The ringtone market has exploded in recent years, with global revenues estimated to have topped $3.5 billion in 2003, according to industry estimates.

That's a lot of money to spend on ringtones. But I am beginning to understand how ringtones help shape a person's identity and image.

Like a rad pair of leg warmers or a stone-washed jean jacket, ringtones help make a person who they are in our plastic little world.

...I gotta go, my cell is vibrating in my pocket.

let the truth B told
-T