Ringtone downloading is a very popular activity these days. Since the incarnation of the first series of mobile phones that allowed users to manually compose their own melodies, users were already fascinated with the creativity involved in composing these tones. The phones were first introduced in Japan and gathered severe public attention with the features designed with it.

To help Japanese users in composing their personalized ringtones, a book authored by another Japanese who was among the thousands of users fascinated with mobile phones that time, was released and made millions of copies sold all over Japan alone.

Soon, the phenomenal success of these types of mobile phones hit the international market and started making millions of sales in every continent. Countries like the US and several European countries were among those countries whose citizens were early to adapt the temptation that mobile phone ringers offer. The tones circulated that time were monophonic tones- simple set of notes played one note at a time given the length of the tone.

The increasing demand for more melodic type of tones became the advent of polyphonic tones. Mobile phone manufacturers had to adapt to the demand of their consumers with regard to phones capable of allowing users to customize their mobile phone ringers at the same time producing a more audible quality sound. Mobile phone sales increased drastically and exportation of mobile phones were done on countries not reached with their earlier releases.

Polyphonic ringtones became one of the most sought after element of mobile phones that time. Users share their tones through short messaging system (SMS) and multimedia messaging system (MMS). And later change with the development of connectivity features such as Infrared and Bluetooth. However, not all mobile phones released during that time were capable of creating these types of connection. Some mobile phone users were still sending mobile phone ringers through SMS or MMS even with the existence of these new connection methods. Infrared and Bluetooth are still widely used today when connecting two or more devices without the need of a physical connection.

Some mobile phones released during that time were capable of playing both monophonic and polyphonic ringtones. With these innovations, network providers continued their venture in offering the public with downloadable ringtones. Many of these carriers advertised their offers through text messages and used the same method in sending tones to mobile phone users.

Through the success of earlier versions of mobile phones, manufacturers developed a new type of presenting ringtones to mobile phone owners. Thus, the birth of Truetones, a more advance type of mobile phone ringer that plays real voices and accompaniment. The public eagerly accepted truetones as an addition to the existing types of melodies suitable for mobile phones.

Today, almost all mobile phones sold in the market are now capable of playing polyphonic tones and truetones, leaving monophonic tones behind the scene. Truetones became the most downloaded type of ringers as it brings a close-to-real melody compared to other types of ringers. In addition, truetones are easy to compose. Users normally convert mp3 files into mobile phone ringers and send them to their mobile phones.