I've seen a lot of discussion on this forum and wanted to clarify regarding iToner. First, it did not reside on the iPhone, so never breaks Apple's rule about third party apps being on the iPhone. iToner resides on the Mac. It uses iTune's functions to update the iPhone. If it resided on the iPhone, it would be a native app, and could be used by Microsoft Windows users too.
Updating the ring tone list is not about storage space as some have suggested, because even with a video of my youngest granddaughter's foray into the water on a trip to the Gulf and all the photos I've uploaded (over a thousand at this point) of both my granddaughters, son, daughter-in-law, and the cat (mustn't forget the cat), there's still over 5gb available on my 8gb iPhone. So not storage space.
It's not that I can't personalize my iPhone--that's okay with Apple. Although they are much more expensive storage-wise than ringtones, I can attach a picture to each person on my contact list and this facility was one of the things that moved me off my old phone (a Samsung) to the iPhone. I'm already an AT&T customer (have been, since about 1998-99, through all their reincarnations), so didn't object to that. Music is just static content, like photos. Not like some .exe file on the PC that will infiltrate the system and break it, as some have suggested. Particularly when the app syncing those tunes does not even reside on the iPhone. Even the photos weren't enough to move me to the iPhone, however. It was the combination of photos and the ability to download my own ringtones. The latter didn't happen until iToner came out, since I'm opposed to jailbreaks and hacking my phone. So not about a 3rd party app on the iPhone.
I'm a little disappointed. Very disappointed really. I have tinnitus and with the chimes going 24 hours a day, I can't really appreciate the nuances of various tunes to clarify who's attempting to contact me--I can't even hear some of the tunes, because the chimes win every time. What I can do is distinguish human voices (unless they're very melodic, then sometimes, the chimes win). When my son calls, I want to hear his voice, say "Mom, it's me. On the phone. Pick it up." -- or whatever.
I was excited about the iPhone being able to sync to iTunes. I could make my own ringtones on the Mac--standard audio files, after all, and I have tools on my Mac that can catch and create tones--Apple publishes them, and other 3rd party developers recognized by Apple. All the back and forth doesn't change the fact that it could be done before the 1.1.1 upgrade. I can still do it, because I'm not upgrading. And I don't have to install any third party apps on my phone, or hack it, or use jailbreaks. Just a program that uses the calls from Apple's own published functions, but sends over more from my iTunes playlist, than iTunes alone does.
So if the tones don't break the phone, and iTunes holds them just fine, and these static (i.e., non-executable) files don't break my Mac, I'm left swayed by the agruments of those who feel that it's just the new Apple (we can now join the Lemmings in Apples 1984-85 commercials) who no longer desire to empower their customers but only to feed more money to the criminals at the RIAA--who, by the way, have historically only given lip service to the needs of their artists, who having signed away their rights to their music to get recognition when they were young, now frequently find that they have no rights at all and generally see very little income from their efforts.
And for those who believe that all third party developers are part of the evil dark side, remember that Apple holds a developer conference every year and that those developers are not only sanctioned by Apple, but also pay Apple for membership to that club. Ambrosia has been around a long time. Maybe, I'm making inaccurate assumptions, but I'm assuming that Ambrosia and many, if not all of their outside developers, with numerous applications for the Mac on the market, have paid those dues like so many other Mac developers. Apple makes money off third party developers or they wouldn't support them. Third party applications draw people to the Mac--they tend to be innovative and functional. So, technically, third-party developers sell systems for Apple in many cases. In the same way, iToner (a Mac application), was my reason for buying the iPhone.
In any case, my snippet of my son's voice, certainly doesn't belong to the RIAA and like the photos attached to my contacts, and the wallpaper image of my daughter-in-law and granddaughters, should be attachable to him on my contact list. I filled out a survey for AT&T 2 weeks ago, right after I bought the iPhone, and indicated that I thought Apple was very innovative--I've been using Macs at home since 1984, and in my business since well before it was incorporated in 2000. I'm just disappointed that all Steve's empowerment speeches over the years turn out to be nothing more than posturing--not much different, it seems in the end than Scully. Ah, well.
