Once cell phones began to move beyond merely being able to place calls and became able to store more and more data, we began to see the rise of ringtones. Beyond the novelty ringers, now everyone could have a ringtone for different callers.

My first phone allowed custom rings, but you had to program in each note. This was difficult for someone who is close to tone-deaf. I eventually got a better flip phone that had a decent system for downloading low-quality ringtones, but the selection was very limited. Once I got my first smartphone (a Palm Pre +) I could really innovate. All of my most common callers would get their own ringtone. It took some work because, by default, my phone was unable to play them at sufficient volume. I had to boost the volume with audio editing software, which hurt the dynamic range and sound quality, but they were loud enough to get my attention. Some uploading later, I had an ample array of ringtones.