REVIEW: MyxerTones cuts down barriers between cellphones and content

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless News’ new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week we’ll review a new wireless application or service from the user’s point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works and what doesn’t in the mobile content industry. If you wish to submit your application or service for review, please contact us at rcrwebhelp@crain.com.
Application: MyxerTones
Running on: The Web, with content loading to a Motorola Razr from Sprint Nextel.
Yay: There is now little reason to ever pay for ringtones or wallpapers.
Nay: The amount of obviously copyrighted material available for free is slightly disconcerting. Also, the MyxerTones search function casts a wide net.
We say: MyxerTones and other do-it-yourself-mobile-content Internet sites make loading ringtones and wallpapers to your phone extremely simple. Indeed, such services are so slick they may well squeeze established players-those selling copyrighted material for a fee-out of the market.
MyxerTones is like the mobile equivalent of a YouTube for TV or the original Napster for music. It essentially allows users to upload any kind of song or image, and then share it with other cellphone users. Thus, the attraction of MyxerTones is obvious-users can get free stuff-but the offering could well run into the same legal troubles that brought down Napster and currently threaten YouTube.
However, such legal challenges likely are a long way down the road. In the meantime, MyxerTones users get a slick, easy-to-use service that frees them from the need to pay for content they may already own.
After registering for MyxerTones’ service, which includes inputting a cellphone number, users are urged to either upload their own content-be it tunes or images-or to browse from a library of what appears to be hundreds of thousands of audio and image files, most of which are available for free.
During my initial foray into the MyxerTones’ library of content, I stumbled across the “simpsons – Spider Pig” ringtone, which had been uploaded by the MyxerTones’ user named “Ashley414.” The MyxerTones site allowed me to listen to the clip to make sure it was indeed from “The Simpsons Movie,” as I had suspected, and I was also able to browse through comments that other users had posted to the item: “spider pig!!!!!!!i luv u!!!!,” for example.
Sending the audio clip-which was listed as free-to my phone was extremely easy; since I had already given MyxerTones my cellphone number, all I had to do was click the button that said, “Send it to my phone!” A few seconds later a text message directed me to a WAP page with a link to download the clip. The WAP page also had an advertisement for the game “Project Gotham Racing,” and clicking on the ad took me directly to a page to buy the game.
The MyxerTones site also offered an alternate download method: I was able to access the same item by sending a text message to the short code 69937 (MYXER) containing a 6-digit number that corresponded to the “simpsons – Spider Pig” tone. The system responded with a text message containing the WAP page to download the item.
I decided to try to hunt down a specific ringtone: “Blitzkrieg Bop” by The Ramones. The MyxerTones service returned eight pages of results, and most of the items did not appear to have any connection to The Ramones or blitzkriegs. However, I did find what I was looking for, a tone uploaded by the user named “haleysheeit,” which was available for free. The upload process was a smooth as my first test, and within minutes I was listening to Joey Ramone belting out “Hey ho, let’s go!”
Interestingly, Sprint Nextel sells the same ringtone for $2.50.
A brief check of various wallpapers turned up similar results, and the download process was the same.
Next, I tried the service’s upload feature. I clicked on “make,” and was instructed to upload a digital file. I selected Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog” from my personal music collection, and hit the enter key. After the system uploaded my file, I was given the chance to select exactly which part of the song I wanted to use as a ringtone by sliding a 30-second highlighter across the tune’s entire length. Once I selected my favorite part of the song, I simply clicked on the button to send it to my phone, and it arrived seconds later. Creating my own ringtone took all of a minute.
I tried the same process with an image file, with similar results. However, the usefulness of this function is somewhat suspect as most phones include a camera that can accomplish this same task.
The most interesting part of MyxerTones’ service was its sharing and selling service. This offering allows users to share content with other users for free or for a fee. In this section, MyxerTones warns that “uploading music or images that you do not own is totally uncool. Myxer sharing & selling accounts are for content owners. If you upload material you do not own-it will be removed.”
As for selling content specifically, MyxerTones allows independent musicians and others to sell their content through the MyxerTones site, or through other sites. MyxerTones takes care of the payment process, and keeps 70% of the selling price, which the seller sets. MyxerTones explains that the money goes to “cover expenses such as PayPal or credit card transaction fees, SMS message delivery, carrier fees, my wife’s growing shoe collection, and the enormous pile of cash we have in the middle of the room here.”
All in all, MyxerTones stands as an extremely simple way for users to upload their own content into their phones, or to access other content of questionable origins.