Microsoft first revealed custom ringtone support will be coming to Windows Phone "Mango" during the MIX11 conference in April. However as demo of the custom ringtone support was very brief (lasting only a few seconds) and the conference was mainly aimed at developers rather than consumers, not many people noticed this new feature. Today, Microsoft detailed on the Windows Phone blog the many ways users will be able to get custom ringtones on their Windows Phone "Mango" devices, as well as detailing several new built-in ringtones coming as part of the update:
Getting custom ringtone via apps – With a new custom ringtone API made available in Mango, developers will be able to create many ringtone-related apps in the marketplace. Users will be able to use the "Save as Ringtone" option within these apps to create or download a custom ringtone to their phones. According to the blog post, any Marketplace app that revolves around sound or music – karaoke apps, sound effect apps, DJ apps, music instrument apps – will be able to give users this option to save custom ringtones to their phone.- Create and sync your custom ringtone via Zune software – Besides getting custom ringtones from apps, users will also be able to create their own ringtones from their favourite tunes, and sync them to their Window Phones using the Zune software. To do this, the ringtone file must satisfy the following requirements:
- 39 seconds or shorter
- smaller than 1 megabyte (MB)
- saved in MP3 or WMA format
not copy-protected (i.e. DRM free)
To sync your custom ringtone to your phone, simply add the sound file to your Zune collection, then right-click on the file and change the genre to "Ringtone". You will then be able to sync the ringtone to your Windows Phone like any other music files you have. And don’t worry, items marked as a ringtone will not show up in your music collection or playlists.
- New built-in ringtones – Microsoft’s sound designer Matt Bennett also created 9 new native ringtones as part of the Mango update, inspired by pottery, calligraphy, and tapestry from China, Japan, and Korea. What do they sound like? You’ll need to wait until Mango comes out later this Fall.
Of course, other changes are also coming in the Ringtones+Sounds settings, including the ability to turn off the camera shutter sound. You can take a read at the official Windows Phone blog here.