Steelers Ringtones for Treo 700w

You can download many of the famous Steeler fight songs as MP3s or WMAs from http://steelergridiron.com/fanzone/songs.html.  The Treo 700w can use WMA format for ringtones, so any MP3s will need to be converted first (see below).  Some the the songs are right-click-and-save-as, some you need to un-zip afrer you download. 

You can download the “Puhlahmahlu” song as an MP3 from http://www.flidop.com/flidop/detailband.php?BID=184 (scroll down—link under the letter).  Since this is a full-length song, you should probably edit it down to your favorite parts before turning the whole thing into a ringtone.  You really only need 30 seconds of a ringtone, since your voicemail will pick up after that.

To convert MP3s to WMAs, and edit the songs as needed, I use the free Audacity Cross-Platform Sound Editor.  This is extrememly easy to use, and I think I’ll be creating ringtone monsters by pointing this out.

To get the ringtones on your Treo, you can copy them to an SD card, or put them in your file sync folder and sync your device (advanced users can navigate directly to the Rings directory on their device).  Then, navigate to the files using the File Explorer, tap and hold on the song, and choose “set as ringtone” from the pop-up menu.  This will copy the song to the ringtones directory.

Then, go to Start >> Settings >> Phone, and click the “set ringtones” link.  On the tones screen, choose the Phone event (known caller, unknown caller, etc) and then select the ringtone.

If you want to really go crazy, you can set different ringtones for each person in your contacts.  Once you get your tones in the Rings directory, open up your contacts, and find the person you want to set the ringtone for.  Scroll down in their contact entry, and you’ll see a “Ringtone” entry partway down the contact information (just under where you enter the mobile phone number).  This is a dropdown list containing everything in your Rings directory.

Just remember to turn of those phones when you’re in a movie, restaurant or at the symphony.  Please!

For more information on creating rongtones for your Treo 700w, visit http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/mobile/pocketpc/makeringtone.mspx

<update 2006–02–03>

If you don’t have a Treo 700w, no big deal.  Any SmartPhone or will work like this.  If you have a normal cellphone, you can probably still make your own ringtones.  All you need is a USB data cable to connect your phone to your computer (these are often available at the store where you got your phone, and almost always available online, just Google for the model of phone you have and you’ll find one), and the freeware BitPim to transfer the song to your phone.  There is a list of phones you can use with BitPim at http://www.bitpim.org/help/, and links to cables for the phones.  Make sure the data cable includes the USB drivers for your phone.  Use Audacity to cut out about a 30 second chunk of your favorite song, connect your phone to your computer using the data cable, and transfer the song chunk using BitPim.  BitPim will automatically put the ringtone into the proper folder, all you have to do is choose it.  I used to do this with my old LG-VX4500 and it worked like a charm.  Most phones can use MP3 or MID files as their ringtones, but if you’re having problems, just Google for your phone type and you should find some additional information.