| Remember the "ancient times", when your cell phone | | | | These companies were responsible for the leaps and |
| had just two ring options: a shrill, electronic trill, or a | | | | jumps in ringtone technology. From the monophonic |
| scratchy melody (something incredibly dull, like Fur Elise) | | | | ringtones in Harmonium, they developed polyphonic |
| that came with the unit? | | | | ringtones, which synthesized various notes similar to |
| Those miserable days are over, thanks to the | | | | those found in music boxes. The latest development is |
| innovations introduced by a Finnish computer | | | | the true tone. These true tones are completely |
| programmer named Vesa-Matti Paananen. When | | | | indistinguishable from the songs played on the radio, for |
| Nokia, the company he worked for, started | | | | the simple reason that they are actually recorded in a |
| experimenting with a nifty function called "smart | | | | studio. Think of them as mini-music, a highly |
| messaging", he was hit with a brilliant idea. If people | | | | compressed excerpt from a full-length song. |
| could send text messages to each other, this same | | | | Of course, these developments would not have been |
| software could be used to deliver other types of | | | | made possible without the improvements in the phone |
| information, such as the codes of songs. Paananen | | | | itself. The first units were large, clunky handsets with |
| went straight to work, and came up with a program | | | | very little memory capacity. Songs were scratchy |
| he dubbed "Harmonium". | | | | simply because there was very little room for |
| Harmonium was rough by today's standards, but it set | | | | complicated programs. (In fact, the first units could only |
| the foundation for the multi billion ringtone industry. It let | | | | hold a maximum of five or six ringtones.) Today's |
| people program musical sequences into their phones | | | | phones are actually more powerful than the first |
| which they could forward to their friends. Users were | | | | computers. They can not only hold vast amounts of |
| no longer confined to the songs that were packaged | | | | information-video footage, large photo files, and a |
| into the units. The invention could've made him a | | | | hundred ringtones)-users can extend this capacity with |
| billionaire, but Paananen also generously made | | | | a portable memory chip. |
| Harmonium a freeware, ready to download from the | | | | People have also become more tech-savvy in the last |
| Internet for free. Everyone could use it-and because | | | | 15 years. It is not uncommon for teenagers to tinker |
| of this, everyone did, and the phone ringtones started | | | | with software that would've intimidated adults at the |
| to proliferate. | | | | start of the computer age (this was the time when |
| Some phone ringtones were made by private | | | | most people had grown up using typewriters). Many |
| individuals who just liked tinkering with the program or | | | | ringtone sites allow users to contribute their own |
| wanted to proudly share their creations with the rest | | | | creations, and these "musicians" are neither Nokia |
| of the world. Others collected these ringtones into one | | | | engineers nor computer geeks. They are regular |
| site (the pioneers of the multitude of ringtone providers | | | | people who have found a way to make music and |
| you can now find on the web). Still others were | | | | deliver it to a worldwide audience, sans recording |
| companies that took Harmonium's basic structure and | | | | contract. |
| put their engineers to work at developing it. They saw | | | | To think this all started with a big idea by a brilliant |
| the potential in the software but wanted a richer, more | | | | engineer with a big heart. |
| realistic musical quality. | | | | Thank you, Vesa-Matti Paananen. |