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The second permutation of
Sharetones for Android 2.0 is here.
But what is it? If you’re unfamiliar, Sharetones is an app that helps you coax ringtones out of songs you already own. At first blush, that sounds identical to Ringdroid, a free ringtone editor.
What’s different here is that Sharetones caters to the lazy. Not everyone has the talent or time to make killer ringtones worth listening to time and again. Sharetones skirts the annoyance by comparing the songs you have on your phone with the songs it has in its user-generated online database. The Sharetones server then returns the ringtone’s formula to your phone, and the app you downloaded follows the formula of where to snip your song to fashion a ringtone. It costs $1.49 for three ringtone formulas (“recipes”), $2.49 for unlimited use for a month, or $7.49 for unlimited use for a year.
Those for whom Sharetones 2.0 rings a bell will note that the updated version (still free to download) includes Ringdroid, the very same editor mentioned above. We had hoped for this after seeing the first versions of Sharetones and wishing we could create our own ringtones from the app itself and include them in the Sharetones database. There’s also a search bar in version 2.0, several other interface tweaks, and a performance boost.
All in all, Sharetones 2.0 for Android is an improvement. Sharetones advances a concept that cleverly gets around the mess of logistics and legalities that the company would need to address to license ringtones. But will that translate into success? Without the capability to buy ringtones, the service amounts to paying a company to make a ringtone for you out of your own songs. For some people, that will do just fine, but others may prefer to keep their cash and make their own ‘tones. Either way, we offer you a look at Sharetones in the First Look video above.
