About a month ago I had the idea of setting up a page within SingAboutScience.org or a companion site where people could freely download ringtones based on math and science songs. The project seemed all the more appealing because I knew exactly what I wanted to call it: RingAboutScience.org.
Today the above URL is active (it forwards to SingAboutScience.org/ring/) and houses a decent starter collection of ringtone files. But the challenge of helping people use these files remains significant. I just added a ringtone to my phone, and the process was far more convoluted than I had imagined.
It began with the disposal of my existing phone. My Samsung M320 lacked a microSD slot for a microSD card, so I upgraded to a LG Remarq and bought a USB data cable (for transferring files from my computer) and a microSD card (for storing those files for use by the phone).
Copying files from the computer to the microSD card was straightforward, but designating one as a ringtone (or “ringer,” in Sprint lingo) seemed impossible. I clicked through my phone’s many menus and submenus, but none of them seemed to let me select a file from the microSD card as the default ringtone.
A few Google searches led to a comment thread on the LG Remarq where user VJBPKH1 explained what I had to do: (1) move the ringtone file into the Sounds folder of the microSD card; (2) send a text message to myself, including the ringtone file as an attachment; (3) receive the message, click on the attachment, and save it as a ringtone.
My first attempt at this failed because my ringtone file exceeded 300 KB and I wasn’t allowed to attach it, but a message with a smaller attachment was successful, and before long my LG Remarq was proclaiming, “We are born to do science!” in response to incoming calls.
I hope that the acquisition of free science- and math-themed ringtones can be easier and cheaper for others, and I will add tips to SingAboutScience.org/ring/ as I collect them.