Editing 2272: Ringtone Timeline
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
+ | {{incomplete|Created by a COOL SPACE BEEP. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | ||
− | After the | + | After the telephone was invented, a way of indicating when a call was coming through was needed. Special voltages sent through the line were used to activate a physical bell on the other end, leading to what we recognize as a phone ringing sound, and that method of generating sound persisted for quite some time, even when new methods of detecting and generating ringing sounds were developed. |
− | Eventually, however, people realized they were no longer confined to the traditional bell ringing sound, as computers became more and more involved with the telephone process, and variations of bell-type sounds were introduced, often sounding like spaceship sounds from sci-fi movies. Probably the most iconic "cool space beeps" are the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y64wVO3Uv0 chirps] from the communicators from ''{{w|Star Trek}}'' (which themselves resemble flip-phones in style) | + | Eventually, however, people realized they were no longer confined to the traditional bell ringing sound, as computers became more and more involved with the telephone process, and variations of bell-type sounds were introduced, often sounding like spaceship sounds from sci-fi movies. Probably the most iconic "cool space beeps" are the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y64wVO3Uv0 chirps] from the communicators from ''{{w|Star Trek}}'' (which themselves resemble flip-phones in style). |
− | + | As technology improved, people were able to use actual songs, or song snippets, as their ringing sound -- the so-called ringtone we now know and "love" -- so there was a period when that was all the rage. Many of these songs are grating to hear, and also a social ''faux pas'' if they sound in theatres or other listening venues. As an example, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-PmJYxusHI this Geico ad] featuring bad ringtones, including "the worst ringtone [the Geico gecko has] ever heard", came out around the end of the "song and novelty ringtone" period (according to Randall's periodization). | |
− | + | And as people got sick of that, they reverted to simpler spaceship sounds again, although this time often of higher quality and more melodious in nature. | |
− | + | We are now hearing more and more people elect to use a more traditional ringing sound, both as the novelty has worn off, and possibly also as an ironic statement about ringtones. | |
− | + | The final stage the comic is pointing to is doing away with traditional sound entirely, and going with the vibrate mode most portable phones have; what little sound there is is more of a low rumbling sound. However, if the phone is on a hard surface (as opposed to in a pocket, muffled by fabric), the sound is much louder and more grating. A recording of that sound, played as an audio ringtone, would go back to being annoying again, as Randall notes in the title text. | |
Another comic about bad ringtones is [[1241]]. | Another comic about bad ringtones is [[1241]]. | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | + | {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | |
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{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} |