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August 26, 2005

Cell phone ringing fool

For a long time I've been wanting to create my own MP3 ring tones for my phone. There's alot of music that I have created on my computer that I've wanted to transfer, not to mention some free MP3's that I've downloaded from unknown artists from across the world.

The other day I had a thought ... what if you could upload a ringtone to a Web site and download it to your phone?

So, I decided to do an experiment. I created a few short MP3 files on my computer and uploaded them to my Web server here at edengelking.com. I loaded the Web browser on my cell phone, typed in the URL of the ringtone and low and behold it downloaded to my phone.

Now, some of the files worked and some of them didn't, and anyone who knows me knows that I won't stop until I have the answer. I checked some settings on the files that worked and discovered that the bitrate at which they played was 64k. No problem, as I was able to make my audio recorder set at default to 64k.

Next, I set the sample format to 32-bit float and the rate to 44100 Hz. Apparently, you can set the MP3 to be as low as 22050 Hz, but anything lower most cell phones will not be able to play. On my model, it comes back with an error saying "invalid file" or something to that effect.

Now, some of my files were already set at a specific format and rate, so I discovered that in order for me to set them properly, I had to copy the entire file and create a new file in Audacity (my default recorder for those who didn't already know), which had the proper settings set by default. In the new file, I pasted the copied content and exported it to an MP3. After checking the settings, everything looked correct.

At this point, I opened my FTP program and uploaded the MP3 files to my Web site. I made note of the file name and the location on the Web site, opened the cell's Web browser, pointed to the proper URL and boom... instant (not to mention free) ring tone.

Amazing what you can do when you get bored in the middle of the night.

~out...

Posted by ed at August 26, 2005 09:19 AM

Comments

Ed,
I would take a look at the overall file size, in case you have a size limit imposed by the phone. I can see the 64k bitrate, but I am not too sure that a 32-bit float would work all the time. Did you try setting a lower float, say 24-bit?

I have to admit that I have never done anything like this, so I'm just throwing it all out there. When I get the chance to install Audacity on ubuntu or FC4 I will give it a go and let you know if I find anything. Actually, I need to call nextel and move into a newer phone. I like my 58, but I can get this kind of crap done more easily with a new 760 or 860... :)

Posted by: Troy Overton [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 26, 2005 10:41 AM

Thus far, the largest file size that I have is 150K on my V551. It's roughly 19 seconds long and works without a hitch.

I haven't set a lower rate yet, but I just really started messing around with this around 11PM last night. I'm going to try to do some more this evening to see if I can get the same or better quality with lower rates.

When I came to work today, I grabbed two other MP3 capable cell phones, one was a V220 ... the other I don't know. I downloaded some test ringtones to them. They worked without a hitch.

Posted by: eengelking [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 26, 2005 01:17 PM

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