INSTALLING A NEW RINGTONE

Installing a new ringtone on your handheld is actually pretty simple once you figure out how to do it and find a source for them. Unfortunately, there is very little guidance on how to install them and most carriers do not include BlackBerry handhelds in their ringtone sections. Also, installing a ringtone requires the use of a web browser, and cannot be done any other way.

BlackBerry ringtones are really just Standard MIDI files. MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface and was one of the first standards for making music on the computer. Standard MIDI files play just one note at a time, as opposed to Polyphonic MIDI files, which can play many notes at the same time. MIDI files generally use a. .MID extension.

You need to find a web page that offers links to MIDI files. There are many out there and a search for MIDI should turn up a few, though not all are free. BlackBerry.com offers some as part of a "Browser Demonstration" web page, so this is a good place to start. In your browser, click the Go To menu item to enter the web address of http://mobile.BlackBerry.com. The page offers an interactive way to access many common features such as searches and directories. Select the BlackBerry Extras link in the list and click the Get Link menu item. Next, click the Ringtones link in the list and again click the Get Link menu item. The first time you visit this page you will see a page with a legal disclaimer. Scroll to the bottom (yes, it is a long way down there) and click the I Accept button. The next screen shows a list of ringtones that you can download. Select a ringtone to download and then click the Get Link menu item again.

This actually downloads the ringtone onto your handheld and displays a screen allowing you to save it, shown in Figure 8.12. When the screen is shown, the ringtone automatically starts playing, so don't do this if you are in a meeting! You can stop playing the file by selecting the button with the square on it and clicking the trackwheel. To play the ringtone again, click the button with the triangle on it.

Figure 8.12. Playing a downloaded ringtone.

Simply downloading the ringtone does not make it available to be used as a ringtone, however; you must save it first. Do this by clicking the Save button on this screen. When you do this, the screen in Figure 8.13 is shown asking you to name the ringtone. This defaults to the name of the MIDI file you have downloaded, but sometimes this isn't the best name and you can change the name to something easier to read here.

Figure 8.13. Naming the ringtone you are saving.

note

Most of the time an image displayed on your handheld will be scaled down so that it can fit comfortably on the screen. If you want to see the image full size, click the Full Image menu item. If the image does not fit onto the screen, and it probably will not, you can pan the view sideways by pressing the ALT key while scrolling the trackwheel.