kr3w1
Newbie
Ever since the first cell phones could play songs as ringtones, I have wanted nothing more to have the “coolest” ringtone of anyone. Long before I was old enough to own a cell phone or could afford one with the ability to play songs as ringtones, I would pick out the perfect part of the perfect song and think, “Now THAT would be a cool ringtone. THAT would make everyone jealous.” But, alas, for the longest time, making that “perfect” ringtone was difficult, if not impossible. There were websites and programs that could help but almost all had some limitation. Some cost money (which I did not have), some produced poor quality tones (which I did not like), some capped out at a certain time (which I found creatively restrictive), and some were just so difficult to use that the effort was not worth the result (which I found extremely annoying). Nothing was good enough. Nothing, that is, until this wonderful OS called Android came along and with it an application named Ringdroid.
Ringdroid is a simple app that uses audio files on an android phone and allows the user to produce extremely high quality ringtones, of any length, with almost zero effort. The application is as easy to use and navigate as any with few buttons or confusing options to deal with. The user does not feel overwhelmed when running Ringdroid for the first time. He or she can easily pick a song from a list and get right into selecting the “perfect” part to make the ringtone he or she has always wanted.
When first opening Ringdroid, three options are available to get you off and running. First, located in the upper left corner of the screen, is a search box. Simply type the name of a band or title of a song (or partial name or title) you want to edit and Ringdroid will automatically pull up a relevant list. Second, located in the upper right corner of the screen, is a “Record New” button. The record now button does just what it says, allows the user to record a new sound that can then be saved as is or edited to make a ringtone. Third, located on the rest of the screen, is the song list. This is just a list of every audio file on the phone that Ringdroid recognizes and can create a ringtone out of. It is worth mentioning that, at this time, Ringdroid only supports mp3, wav, aac, mp4, 3gpp and arm file types. Ringdroid does not support wma file types. So, windows media player users have a slightly tougher road to creating these wonderful little ringtones for themselves; they must convert their wma files to a different file type using some other program, iTunes for example.
Ok, now that you have selected the “perfect” song, it’s time to select the perfect part to make that ringtone that you have always dreamed of that is going to make all of your friends jealous. So, once a song is selected, the first thing you will see is a scrollable waveform representation of the audio itself. On top of that waveform representation, there will be two small scroll bars, one on each side of a lighter colored portion of the waveform forming a box of sorts. This lighter colored portion is the current selection of the song, the would-be ringtone. Using these arrows to select the desired part of the song couldn’t be easier. To select the start time simply drag the left arrow to the place on the waveform that you want the ringtone to start from and then drag the right arrow to the place on the waveform that you want the ringtone to end at. That’s it. That is essentially all that is necessary to create that perfect ringtone. There are, obviously, a few ways to make the selected start and stop times a little more precise but are in no way necessary.
Below the waveform the user will notice a few more options: rewind, play, and fast forward buttons; zoom in and zoom out buttons; two boxes labeled “start” and “end”; and a save button. The rewind, play and fast forward buttons do just as you expect, they play, rewind and fast forward the current selection allowing you to preview what the ringtone would sound like. The zoom in and out buttons allow you to zoom in up to five times closer, making selection of the exact start and stop times up to five times more precise. The start and end boxes take the precision selection one step further, allowing you to type in specific start and stop you would like down to the hundredth of a second. Then, when you are finished and have created the perfect ringtone, the save button allows you to name the file whatever you wish and save it as either music, alarm, notification or ringtone, depending on your desired use for the ringtone.
Overall, Ringdroid is one of the best, easiest to use applications on the market today. It is fast, easy and does exactly what it says it can do. It does have the limitation of not being able to use wma files but, as I stated earlier, that can be a relatively easy fix. Also, some users have voiced small complaints such as not having “fade in” or “fade out” options but these complaints are generally infrequent and minor. Despite these few shortcomings, most users in the market have given Ringdroid 4 or 5 star ratings. If you enjoy showing off your personality in part by using custom ringtones then I urge you to give Ringdroid a try, you will not be disappointed.
Note: If the lack of wma file support is a deal breaker to you, feel free to fill out the Ringdroid user survey (located Here) and tell the Ringdroid team about it.
Ringdroid is a simple app that uses audio files on an android phone and allows the user to produce extremely high quality ringtones, of any length, with almost zero effort. The application is as easy to use and navigate as any with few buttons or confusing options to deal with. The user does not feel overwhelmed when running Ringdroid for the first time. He or she can easily pick a song from a list and get right into selecting the “perfect” part to make the ringtone he or she has always wanted.
When first opening Ringdroid, three options are available to get you off and running. First, located in the upper left corner of the screen, is a search box. Simply type the name of a band or title of a song (or partial name or title) you want to edit and Ringdroid will automatically pull up a relevant list. Second, located in the upper right corner of the screen, is a “Record New” button. The record now button does just what it says, allows the user to record a new sound that can then be saved as is or edited to make a ringtone. Third, located on the rest of the screen, is the song list. This is just a list of every audio file on the phone that Ringdroid recognizes and can create a ringtone out of. It is worth mentioning that, at this time, Ringdroid only supports mp3, wav, aac, mp4, 3gpp and arm file types. Ringdroid does not support wma file types. So, windows media player users have a slightly tougher road to creating these wonderful little ringtones for themselves; they must convert their wma files to a different file type using some other program, iTunes for example.
Ok, now that you have selected the “perfect” song, it’s time to select the perfect part to make that ringtone that you have always dreamed of that is going to make all of your friends jealous. So, once a song is selected, the first thing you will see is a scrollable waveform representation of the audio itself. On top of that waveform representation, there will be two small scroll bars, one on each side of a lighter colored portion of the waveform forming a box of sorts. This lighter colored portion is the current selection of the song, the would-be ringtone. Using these arrows to select the desired part of the song couldn’t be easier. To select the start time simply drag the left arrow to the place on the waveform that you want the ringtone to start from and then drag the right arrow to the place on the waveform that you want the ringtone to end at. That’s it. That is essentially all that is necessary to create that perfect ringtone. There are, obviously, a few ways to make the selected start and stop times a little more precise but are in no way necessary.
Below the waveform the user will notice a few more options: rewind, play, and fast forward buttons; zoom in and zoom out buttons; two boxes labeled “start” and “end”; and a save button. The rewind, play and fast forward buttons do just as you expect, they play, rewind and fast forward the current selection allowing you to preview what the ringtone would sound like. The zoom in and out buttons allow you to zoom in up to five times closer, making selection of the exact start and stop times up to five times more precise. The start and end boxes take the precision selection one step further, allowing you to type in specific start and stop you would like down to the hundredth of a second. Then, when you are finished and have created the perfect ringtone, the save button allows you to name the file whatever you wish and save it as either music, alarm, notification or ringtone, depending on your desired use for the ringtone.
Overall, Ringdroid is one of the best, easiest to use applications on the market today. It is fast, easy and does exactly what it says it can do. It does have the limitation of not being able to use wma files but, as I stated earlier, that can be a relatively easy fix. Also, some users have voiced small complaints such as not having “fade in” or “fade out” options but these complaints are generally infrequent and minor. Despite these few shortcomings, most users in the market have given Ringdroid 4 or 5 star ratings. If you enjoy showing off your personality in part by using custom ringtones then I urge you to give Ringdroid a try, you will not be disappointed.
Note: If the lack of wma file support is a deal breaker to you, feel free to fill out the Ringdroid user survey (located Here) and tell the Ringdroid team about it.