RazR RingtoneZ

Razr and Powerbook 15
Originally uploaded by ultramookie.

My girl Wendy just got herself a sweet little Motorola Razr this weekend and already had some great ringtones. I'd had mine for about a month but hadn't really customized it to my liking yet. I was pretty impressed that I could go on the phone's browser and pull up available ringtones and search for songs as well. I looked up the first thing I thought of: Gwen Stafani's song Bananas. A message told me it would cost $3.00. Kinda steep but fine, whatever. Then another message pops up, they'll be a 50cent charge for something else. Sure, ding me again.

For a $3.50 total (though I haven't seen the browser charges for surfing in the first place) I get my one song. Kinda wish I'd bought the itunes mobile phone at this point. Surely it only cost 99cents a song, no? When I get my song changed and downloaded I realize that for $3.50 I got a crappy 8 seconds of Gwen's song that doesn't even loop properly when it rings. Come on! No wonder mobile content (esp. ringtones) is one of the faster growing industries worldwide. It's a worse scam than bank fees.

Move Over Alicia Keys?

Alicia Keys with glowing Apple
Originally uploaded by marzipanguy.

Microsoft said they wouldn't try to compete with Apple's itunes but news broke today (source: Cynthia Turner's Cynopsis) that the corp is working with MTV Networks to launch Urge, a joint digital music service. Similar to how iTunes works in conjunction with Quicktime, Urge will work with Windows Media Player, offering downloadable music and a subscription service. The new service will also provide exclusive MTV Networks programming as well as original content designed specifically for the new service. I would've said "move over Alicia Keys" if they'd thought of doing this a couple years ago, but Microsoft will have to work hard at this stage to win back all the PC users who've come over to the light side because of apple's slick design and cool and friendly apps.

More Fun and Games

It's called Guess the Google. Random images are shown to you and you have twenty seconds to guess what google seach keywords may have generated those images. Give it a try!

I got skillz! Do you?

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

CSI: Sales Pitch

Crime scene
Originally uploaded by Daveybot.

As far as the mobile content market goes the hottest items are still games and ring tones. So perhaps it was wise of Coldplay to catch the wave and give some momentum to sales of their latest single Talk by integrating the single/ring tone into a recent episode of CSI: NY. I couldn't find any record of whether this "trick" worked for Coldplay's ring tone sales but I was kinda grossed out at how poorly the product was integrated into the script.

Officer Danny Messer's phone rings and his colleague says "Hey! Is that Coldplay?" "Yeah" he answers, as they move to a lengthy close-up shot of his mobile screen with text that says "Cindy calling". Messer continues, "It's their new single, Talk, something my girlfriend does too much".

Is that supposed to be witty? Am I just offended because I'm a girl, or because the advertising was too blatantly thrown in my face when I was least expecting it? I'm sure most people watching were thrown off by this, which means the show isn't doing its job of engaging its audience and loses some integrity along the way. The product does as well.

Consumers are smart and want to be entertained (all the way through) while they are being sold too. Advertising that is funny or witty goes much further. Interrupting the program with a cheap sales pitch is just an insult.