I'm the man that's waiting for the phone to ring

[venta]

A couple of weeks ago, I got myself a new mobile phone. I didn't really want to get rid of the old one, but figured a phone whose buttons largely didn't work any more probably needed replacing.

My phone lives on silent/vibrate mode all the time, and thus I haven't really interacted much with the selection of ringtones. However, my phone is also my alarm clock (and my main reason for sticking to Sony Ericsson phones is their really nicely designed alarm-setting menus. I can set an alarm as a one-off, or to go off every day. Or I can set it to go off repeatedly on some selection of days - for example Mon-Fri but not weekends. Perfect. Why don't all electronic clocks offer that functionality ? But I digress.)

The first day my new phone went off as an alarm I was indeed extremely alarmed. A weird, polyphonic rendition of Erik Satie's Gymnopedie No. 1, speeded up and forced into a swing rhythm is enough to scare anyone. Especially first thing in the morning. It's hideous. Apparently the nice, friendly sound I'd selected on the former phone (it was called "Old Phone", and went brrrrring-brrrrringggg in the way all phones should) is no longer an option.

However, this has led me to wonder... will an alarm clock which makes hideous noises actually compel me to wake up in order to loathe it properly ? Should I stick with the bastardised Satie ? Or will it just make me that bit more baleful and angry every single morning ?

Comments

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

I've always preferred the bring-bring type ring-tone myself, and similarly thought I'd lost it when I recently got a new phone. However, it turned out that I had been confused a) by its name being changed and b) by ring-tones being stored in more than one place on my phone. Try checking through folders on both the phone itself and any memory card you may have, and looking for files called things like 'Nostalgia'.

As for the general issue of loathsome vs. charming alarm tones, on the whole I reckon ones that put a smile on your face are better than ones which wake you with an ugly shock.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I've certainly checked all the ringtones (I think!) by name - I haven't had the courage to try listening to them all. Though I did wonder if I could transfer the tone from the old phone to the new.

It seems my phone can use mp3s as ringtones, though. Maybe I should encourage people to send me mp3 clips to use as alarms. Anyone fancy editing/recording/creating something to wake me up ?

I'm very jealous of your real phone, as iconised. When I grown up with my own house I shall have one too.

[ajntornj.livejournal.com]

I'm a habitual mp3 ring tone editor - recently I discovered that War Pigs by Black Sabbath works curiously well, though the strange bleepy bit at the beginning of "24" is my current ring tone. Let me know what you want and I'll do a bit of chopping and editing for you...

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Why do you need to set an alarm, you're not at work any more!

If you can use arbitrary MP3s ("ringtones" I think the young people call them), how about excerpting the alarm clock from 'A Day in the Life' or some such?

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

will an alarm clock which makes hideous noises actually compel me to wake up in order to loathe it properly ?

I used to wake up to Chris Moyles on the radio alarm on this principle.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Should I stick with the bastardised Satie ?

No. Being woken up by something you really dislike can be surprisingly stressful.

Cynically I suspect "old phone" was removed because it was destroying their market for paid ringtones.

[ringbark.livejournal.com]

We downloaded a polyphonic of "God defend New Zealand" to my phone shortly after we got back here and it wakes us up every morning. Well, it missed one morning but that was my fault (and led to an exciting morning)

[kauket.livejournal.com]

Through the magic of bluetooth I managed to get an MP3 of Burn Baby Burn by Ash on my phone. It wakes me up every morning and makes me very happy to hear, even if it does mean I have to wake up :)

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

I have largely woken up either to Apocalyptica's Farewell or to Bolero of Fire from Zelda: Ocarina of time.

But then, I vastly prefer waking up to things that start off silent and ramp up.

Embrace the world of waking up to MP3s!

[shrydar.livejournal.com]

My alarm tone has for some time been set to the episode prologue music from Battlestar Galactica. (Not too loud, but ominous, forbidding and inexorable).

I recently switched my ringtone to be that too, with the result that answering my phone is now highly stress inducing, as it associated with both Doom and with Having to Wake Up. I really should change it to something different.

Change away from the hideous - save your sanity.