Custom Ringtones

I always try to give my phone ringtones that, when I hear them, stand out from the standard chimes and melodies that others use on their smartphones. I think there are fewer and fewer people who use Thomas Dolby's tone for Nokia that everybody recognize, but there are still enough people who keep the default tone that comes with their phone.

My default ringtone is one that grabs your attention. In a quiet room, it can be downright terrifying. It's an alert sound from the 2009 re-boot STAR TREK movie, from Nero's Romulan starship.

DW hates it.

But I have other ringtones for the important people in my life and other people and places that call me. Sounds, that, as soon as I hear them, I know who is calling.

• DW—Warm Greetings. This is one of the tones that came with my new phone. It's a gentle sound with a nice melody. It is certainly more appealing to DW than when I used to have Darth Vader's evil-empire theme song play.
• My parents—an old-fashioned telephone ring. My folks are fairly traditional and the ring reminds me of when I was a kid.
• My sisters—a computerized series of beeps, followed by a mechanical woman's voice, which says, "Your sister is attempting to reach you on your cellular device."
• My brother—"Alert Status Red," by Matthew Good. It's a great tune, and when my brother was last in town, we jammed at an open mic night, and had talked about doing a Matt Good song. The song I chose for his ringtone would be a challenge to perform with acoustic guitars, but I'd like to try it the next time he comes to visit.
• DD16—"Sarah," by Sarah Slean. This song is off her new album, and I only recently made it DD16's ringtone. It's a fitting tune because a) it's her name and b) I am an über Sarah Slean fan. It's a really, really good song.
• DD13—similar to my sisters' tone, it's a computerized series of beeps, followed by the same voice; this time, she says, "Your daughter is attempting to reach you on your cellular device."
• My manager—Darth Vader's evil-empire theme song. Okay, my manager is far from evil. But I think using that ringtone is funny. I can have a laugh, can't I?
• My mechanic—an old-fashioned car horn. Sort of that aah-ooh-gah sound. It's appropriate.

Knowing who is calling me before I can see my phone is great for when I'm busy and can decide whether I want to take the call or not, without having to pull the phone out of my pocket. Do you have customized tones for people in your contact list? What are your best ringtones?