RogueAmoeba
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Intermission transforms audio streaming with TiVo-like replay
I've been a huge fan of Rogue Amoeba products for years. They offer clever audio solutions for OS X. Rogue Amoeba's new Intermission (US$15) utility fills a role on my Mac that I never even knew I needed. Intermission enables you to pause, rewind and skip through live audio streams. This lets you take control of any audio you listen to, regardless of application. It just works, always passively listening and ready for you to take charge. Let's say you're listening to Spotify or Pandora, and you hear a great song. You can immediately rewind and play the song again. Intermission automatically buffers that audio for you. Or, say you're listening to a live stream. I do this all the time here at TUAW for product announcements and financial results calls. Intermission lets you immediately skip back and review what someone just said. This is perfect for anyone who listens to live audio from their Mac -- whether it's a sports broadcast, a talk show or a teleconference. I even tested Intermission with Skype. As long as you don't need to do person-to-person interaction, you can pause the audio, hit the restroom and pick up where you left off listening. It's brilliant. My favorite use was when I tested Intermission with Rogue Amoeba's free LineIn utility and a headset. LineIn allows you to pass audio from the default system input to the default system output. I warn you this solution is completely impractical, but it showcases some of the coolness of the app. Normally Intermission doesn't listen to audio entering your Mac, only to audio being transmitted and played back. LineIn re-routes audio from input to output, so you can control that audio stream with the Intermission app. With LineIn and a headset, you can attend class or listen to talks at a conference and use Intermission to automatically buffer whatever you're listening to. It basically enables you to buffer real life. Did your attention stray? You can "TiVo" back five seconds and replay whatever he or she last said. To make this work, you have to listen through the computer, which means setting up your microphone directionally to listen out and using good earphones to avoid any feedback issues as well as cut out the overlap between the live talk and what you're hearing through the head set, but it is possible (I tested it!) and it does work. Unfortunately, I was unable to get in touch with Rogue Amoeba while writing this review, so I'm unsure as to how long the buffer records. I suspect you can't start playing Pandora the night before in order to build up a long enough feed that you can skip songs whenever you like. Also, Intermission does not offer any record-to-file features that I could find. For $15, I think most people will find Intermission an excellent value -- especially anyone who regularly attends internet-based conference calls and training sessions, anyone who loves listening to sports and anyone who enjoys talk radio over the net. It's a really clever app that stood up well to all my testing and tweaking. Because of its functionality, Rogue Amoeba cannot sell Intermission through the Apple App Store. You can purchase a copy instead at the Rogue Amoeba storefront. A demo version is available for download, with a menu option for registering your product. The demo version overlays noise after 10 minutes of buffered playback. Update: Rogue Amoeba replies, "The buffer is three hours (we do note that on the site). It writes to disk in raw audio, so that's a couple gigs of space -- we'll see what happens in the future, as far as increasing that (if we compress the audio, we can record for a lot longer, obviously), without taking up more space -- but compressed audio is harder to seek through."
Powerful, fast audio editor Fission updated to version 2, available on Mac App Store
Rogue Amoeba does magical things with audio on the Mac. I've long been a fan of their software, and one of their best applications just got a big update with Fission 2. If you've ever wanted to split, edit, join or otherwise mangle audio clips regardless of format, Fission is a great tool. Not only that, the magic sauce in Fission keeps quality of the audio high even when dealing with formats like MP3. A couple of new features of note include support for making Enhanced Podcasts using AAC and SoundCloud support built right in. Full press release below, but if you go to Rogue Amoeba's website you can download a generous demo version. If you're already familiar with Fission 2, buy it in the Mac App Store. Previous owners of Fission have an upgrade path, and if you bought a copy after April 1 of 2012, your upgrade should be free. Show full PR text September 17th, 2012 Fission 2 - Fast Audio Editing on the Mac Is Better Than Ever Fission IconBoston, MA - Rogue Amoeba is proud to announce the availability of the next major version of this fabulous software: Fission 2. Rogue Amoeba's snappy audio editor Fission has long been the tool of choice for editing audio files quickly and easily, with none of the quality loss caused by typical audio editors. Now, it's better than ever. The most noticeable change in Fission 2 is the complete overhaul of its user interface. Every aspect of Fission has been examined and considered, with enhancements made across the board. The editing workflow is now a snap to learn for new users. Existing users of Fission will be instantly familiar with version 2, but will also enjoy a gorgeous new interface that's as fast to use as ever. As well, Fission is no longer limited to saving to a file's original format; thanks to a new exporting engine, Fission can now export audio to a multitude of file formats. After editing a file, users can save it to MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless, FLAC, AIFF, or WAV, getting the exact audio file and format desired. The new Batch Converter tool uses that same engine to make it possible to transcode dozens of files in seconds. Drop an album's worth of FLAC files on the Batch Converter, and you can have a folder full of MP3s with just 2 clicks. Converting from one format to another format couldn't be simpler. Speaking of FLAC, Fission now has full support for the popular lossless audio format. FLAC files can be opened, edited, and saved, making it possible to change them as needed, or just export them to a smaller format for portability. Fission 2 now also supports WAV audio files, in addition to its "original four" formats of MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless, and AIFF. Improvements to saving aren't limited to just file formats either, as Fission now has support for sharing directly to SoundCloud. SoundCloud is the world's leading social sound platform, allowing anyone to create sounds and share them everywhere. With SoundCloud support in Fission, it's now easier than ever to get audio onto the web and shared with others. Put it all together and Fission 2 adds up to one of the fastest and easiest-to-use audio editors in the world! All this and more is now available in Fission's free trial, right from our site. Key Features In Fission 2 Brand New Interface: This update features a gorgeous new interface, streamlined for fast and easy use, and offering both dark and a light themes. Multiple Windows: You can now open multiple audio files simultaneously in Fission, for easy copying and pasting back and forth, or simply to multitask. Cross-Format Conversions: Export from AIFF to AAC, from Apple Lossless to MP3, or any other combination you desire. Batch Conversions Too: With the new Batch Converter, it's a snap to convert dozens of files with just a few clicks. Chapterized AAC Files: Podcasters rejoice! Fission lets you make Enhanced Podcasts with AAC in just seconds. SoundCloud Support: Upload audio directly to your SoundCloud account. New Formats: Fission now offers full support for opening, editing, and saving the FLAC and WAV audio formats, in addition to MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless, and AIFF. Plenty of other stuff too! Links & Information Fission can be purchased through the Mac App Store or directly from Rogue Amoeba's online store for just $32. A fully-functional free trial is available on the Rogue Amoeba site. While in its trial state, the quality of audio saved through Fission will be degraded through a series of audio fades. Owners of older versions of Fission can upgrade for just $15. For users who purchased Fission after April 1st, 2012, a complimentary upgrade is being provided, with upgrade information being sent directly via email. Fission information link: http://rogueamoeba.com/fission Direct download link: http://rogueamoeba.com/fission/download.php
Rogue Amoeba brings back Airfoil Speakers Touch, without direct AirPlay feature
Airfoil Speakers Touch, the iOS app from Rogue Amoeba that was yanked from the App Store last month under somewhat confusing circumstances, is back in business. The company announced today that AST has returned to sale, but it's now stripped of its marquee in-app purchase option. The ability to receive audio directly from other iOS devices or from iTunes (emulating an AirPlay hardware device), added in version 3, was removed to accommodate Apple's review requirements. When AST was first pulled from sale, Rogue Amoeba was told that it was due to the use of private APIs; the problem, as founder Paul Kafasis said on the company blog, is that the app didn't use any. The streaming functionality added in v3 was cleanly reverse-engineered, and after further conversation with Apple it was acknowledged that the original communication around the removal was poorly handled. Even with the awareness that the app met the letter of the law for approval, Apple's review team stood its ground and would not clear the app -- using the blanket (and frustrating) "we know it when we see it" rule. Kafasis's frustration with this stance is evident: "It's clear that despite previous claims, Airfoil Speakers Touch was not in fact using private APIs. The Enhanced Audio Receiving add-on was implemented entirely from scratch and conformed to Apple's published guidelines. Regardless, Apple is using the authority they provide themselves in the guidelines and program license agreement to remove apps they don't like. Specifically, they cited a provision in the App Store Review Guidelines which allows them to reject apps "for any content or behavior [they] believe is over the line". That's certainly disappointing, and frustrating, but it's the nature of the system Apple has created." Rather than leave past purchasers and future customers hanging, the company has brought the app back without the problematic AirPlay streaming feature. If you still want to stream from iTunes or another device to AST, there is a workaround guide on the Rogue Amoeba website (currently slammed with traffic).
Apple pulls Airfoil Speakers Touch from the App Store (Updated)
Update: CoM says a tipster tells them this is because Airfoil Speakers Touch may be duplicating functionality we're going to see in iOS 6. That was our guess as well. Apple has pulled Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil Speakers Touch from the App Store. The app, which made it possible to stream from a computer to an iOS-capable device using Airfoil, had been on the store since 2009. Airfoil Speakers Touch 3 was released last month. The developers say that Apple informed them of the removal on Tuesday, but did not receive a clear answer as to why Apple removed the app. As far as they can tell, they're in full compliance. Airfoil Speakers Touch 3 added the ability to receive audio from other iOS devices and iTunes. We'll have more on this story as it develops.
Airfoil 4.5 allows streaming from your iOS device to your Mac and more
Airfoil for the Mac has been around for a long time, and has always been a great way to transmit audio in a fashion with more flexibility than Apple's own AirTunes (now AirPlay) standard. With Airfoil 4.5, the feature set has grown considerably, and Airfoil has fully joined the AirPlay client & server continuum. Airfoil 4.5 will now allow your Mac to accept audio directly from any iOS device, meaning you can stream audio from apps on your iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad directly to your Airfoil-running Mac. Airfoil will now also send audio from iTunes directly to any AirPlay-compatible speakers. Finally, Airfoil 4.5 comes with several small improvements and additions to its remote control support. Airfoil 4.5 is a free update for owners of Airfoil 4, and it comes with preliminary support for OS X Lion. It costs US$25 and requires Mac OS X 10.6.
Looking forward to AirPlay
As you may have heard, Apple had some sort of event on Wednesday. In amongst the Big News like iPods and iOSs and iTunes and iTVs Apple TVs, Steve Jobs briefly mentioned AirPlay, a replacement for the AirTunes music streaming system used in the Airport Express multi-purpose device. I've built my home audio solutions around AirTunes, so this was, for me, the most interesting thing Apple announced. Details on how the system will actually work are rather thin so far but TUAW has been sleuthing around to try and figure out what we can. First, the best bit. Jobs showed an iPad (running the forthcoming 4.2 version of iOS) being fired up, pressing a few buttons, and streaming its output to a big screen TV via an Apple TV. This addresses my number one complaint: a friend comes to my house, I show them the Airport Express system, I show them the Remote app so they can use their iPhone to control my iTunes... and they ask me why they can't also stream their own music directly from their device. Sure, this is going to be tough on battery life, but it's not like I'm short of chargers. They want to listen to their own music and if you could see inside my iTunes you'd know why. And now they will be able to! I was briefly concerned that this jazzy new functionality would not work with my existing Airport Express devices. Fortunately, Apple's sneak peak at iOS 4.2 confirms that an Airport Express will be able to receive a stream from any iOS 4.2 device, so more good news there too.
Rogue Amoeba on background audio and Airfoil Speakers Touch
Dan Wineman, a developer with Rogue Amoeba, has posted an interesting article on the company blog. I'm a big fan of developers who can explain things clearly to non-developers without sounding condescending, and Dan does a great job covering how the limited version of multitasking available in iOS 4 poses a problem for Airfoil Speakers Touch. For those who aren't familiar with Airfoil, it is Rogue Amoeba's program for Windows and Mac which allows you to send audio to AirPort Express units, Apple TVs, and iOS devices. Previously it was of limited use for iPhone and iPod touch owners because you had to keep the app running in the foreground for the audio to play. While Dan said that adding background audio was easy, there were deeper issues involving how iOS 4 manages background processes, especially due to how Airfoil works on the network. It's a good read. Even as a non-programmer, I'm fascinated by the attention to detail that good programmers go into to make sure their applications work, especially when dealing with limited "resources" like you'd find in mobile devices. Remember when it seemed that CPU speed, RAM, disk space, and bandwidth were not going to be limiting factors anymore because desktop computers kept growing and growing and dial-up Internet access was being replaced by DSL and cable? Then along come mobile devices which brought back all of those limits. Although, it's worth noting that the average cell phone has more processing power than the Apollo computers, so I guess limitations are relative.
Macworld 2010: Rogue Amoeba shows off RadioShift 1.5
Leading indie Mac software shop Rogue Amoeba had a piece of prime real estate on the front wall of the Moscone expo floor, and CEO Paul Kafasis gave us the latest news on RA's product line. Overall, Paul expressed satisfaction with the traffic level at the show, and he was pleased with the investment he made to exhibit on the floor. The recent RadioShift 1.5.x refresh (first introduced at the very end of 2009; the latest version, 1.5.3, came out February 3) now features thousands of additional streaming sources, including many in the Windows Media and Real Media formats that are inaccessible to iTunes users, and several sources previously only playable via the station websites. The web radio tuner & recording app received a thorough UI facelift, improved compatibility with RA's Airfoil audio distribution utility, better third-party player installs, and more sophisticated fallback logic to handle stream dropouts and hiccups. RadioShift 1.5 requires Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and costs US$32. Speaking of Airfoil, the most recent update (3.5 on 12/16) added support for both EyeTV synchronized playback and VMWare Fusion/Parallels Desktop audio. Airfoil can send your Mac's audio to any networked Mac, PC, AppleTV, iPhone/iPod touch, or Linux workstation. The app is $25, or you can get a bundle of both Mac and Windows version for $40. The company's Pulsar client for Sirius/XM satellite streaming radio was also recently updated; it runs $15 for browserless playback of the radio services (with a separate Sirius/XM online account). It's definitely a good sign that independent Mac developers like RA, Boinx and Omnigroup are maintaining their high profile at Macworld Expo. We look forward to seeing the blue unicellular beastie with the eyepatch sunglasses and the automatic rifle back next year.
Followup: Transmit TV audio through your Mac
After my post earlier this week about transmitting Mac audio, readers contacted me about extending this solution. Although they liked the idea of direct audio while working out on a treadmill or exercise bike, several stated that they also wanted to watch from the sofa once the spouse or the kid go to sleep. The idea was the same: audio transmission to an iPhone or iPod touch. The source was different. They wanted to watch live cable TV or their TiVo. And for the punchline, their media center Mac lacks a tuner. Was there a similar quiet Mac-based solution that would let them transmit the TV audio from these non-Mac sources? If your Mac has a microphone jack, internal or even through an external USB solution, the answer is yes. You can easily connect your TV audio to your Mac just like you would connect it to a pair of speakers. Run a cable between a spare audio output (modern TVs usually offer more than one, if not, you can use a splitter) to the microphone jack on the Macintosh. On my low-end TV, this means an RCA stereo cable that feeds to a standard stereo minijack plug. Setting up the Mac host is simple. Instead of feeding audio via Soundflower, as described in the earlier post, choose your microphone audio input in the Skype settings. Start a call to your iPhone or iPod touch, switch the TV source (usually via a "Source" button that picks which signal to watch, such as Composite 1, Component 2, etc.) to your normal cable or TiVo input. Set the external speaker volume to zero. The signal arrives at the Mac microphone independently of those speakers. You may find that the audio out signal tends to be on the low side. Many TV speakers provide their own amplification. If this is a problem for you, you can hook in an inline amplifier. (I use an old Radio Shack 277-1008C.) Alternatively, you can boost the audio via a third party program like Rogue Amoeba's Audio Hijack Pro. This solution takes a few more cables, components, and connections than the Mac Audio-to-iPhone through Skype set-up discussed in the earlier post. But if you have the cables on-hand already, it offers an inexpensive solution compared to many other wireless TV headsets on the market right now.
TUAW Tips: Send Mac audio to your iPhone for cheap
Earlier this month, I wrote about connecting my old Mac mini to my television . My mini offers a great Apple TV-style lifestyle with none of the Apple TV limitations. It's a real Mac running real Snow Leopard, albeit on an older, admittedly limited mini. I have Front Row, EyeTV, QuickTime, and more, all ready to entertain me on demand, as well as standard system access to mail, web browsing, etc. The sound in my living room is powered by a couple of speakers that shipped with an ancient computer monitor. Their audio works fine for close-up TV watching and Wii playing. Move across the room and those speakers prove how limited they are. Add in a treadmill with its motor noises, and the sound decreases to virtually nothing. So how can one listen to those great shows that are playing back on that lovely large screen across the room, especially when walking or jogging on the treadmill? I messed around with several solutions until I stumbled across one that really worked well for me. Using my home's 802.11g Wi-Fi network, I could call my iPhone from my Mac using Skype. With only the most minimal of lags, I was able to transmit live audio and watch my favorite shows on the Mac while listening on the iPhone from my treadmill. Read on to learn how I accomplished this...
Fission 1.6 makes iPhone ringtones even easier
Rogue Amoeba has released version 1.6 of the nifty lossless audio editor Fission with a handy new feature: built-in iPhone ringtone saving. Fission has always been a great application for making relatively simple edits to audio files: cropping, trimming, cutting and pasting, etc. Now it makes turning MP3, AAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, or WAV files into iPhone ringtones a one-step process. Once you save a file as a ringtone it will automatically be passed to iTunes for syncing to your iPhone.Of course you can do it the old-fashioned way with GarageBand, but if your audio file just needs simple editing the Fission method will likely be easier and faster. In addition to the ringtone saving (and various bug fixes), version 1.6 allows you to insert periods of silence into a file and exactly set the location of the playhead.Fission 1.6 is a free upgrade to registered owners; it's $32 for new users and a demo is available.[via Macworld]
An iPhone developer's story
If you're curious about developing for the iPhone, but haven't made the plunge yet, you might want to read Rogue Amoeba programmer Mike Ash's 22-step tale of developing NetAwake, which is available in the App Store. It's a fascinating story, with a lot of waiting, a lot of rejection, and a lot of "screwing about in Xcode." "The errors are essentially worthless. I believe I only ever saw Xcode generate one error, over and over and over again, as it encountered a whole bunch of different problems," he wrote. The app took a month to approve, once it was submitted. Ash says that the people he corresponded with at Apple were "nice about responding to my query" but "spending a month in limbo for a single bug is a very poor tradeoff."
Rogue Amoeba video demo of RadioShift Touch
As mentioned toward the tail end of this morning's liveblog chat with Rogue Amoeba's development team, there is a version of RadioShift in the works for the iPhone and iPod touch; the proof is in the (video) pudding. You can see the full-res QuickTime here.As in the desktop version of RadioShift, you'll be able to review a radio guide and tune into thousands of streaming programs from stations around the globe. The in-progress version has a ways to go (it doesn't actually play audio yet!) but it's exciting to see the efforts of a major Mac developer extended onto the iPhone.
Rogue Amoeba Live Chat!
What do you take when you mix mutant powers, the right to bear arms and a bad case of dysentery? Why, Rogue Amoeba of course! TUAW is delighted to host Paul Kafasis of Rogue Amoeba today as we chat about Apple and its developer program. Today we discuss how Apple makes third party development pure Heaven -- and pure Hell. Please join us in the chat, where we will be talking and taking questions from TUAW readers. Note that if you want to disable the 'chirp' from the chat widget or turn off the autoscroll feature, those options are at the bottom of the chat window -- here's what they look like turned OFF:
Security Update 2008-002 issues may be cleared up by Rogue Amoeba fix
As many of you have reported, there are a few hiccups for some who have installed the latest Leopard security update. Two of the areas of concern are ssh (no connectivity or a crash) and printing (errors out, documents never finish spooling), with various fixes offered (reinstalling the 10.5.2 combo update, installing a standalone SSH build) and various degrees of success reported.One emergent common thread for some of the problems is the presence of a Rogue Amoeba audio utility, and the gang in the petri dish have responded with a revised version of the Instant Hijack framework. The new 2.0.3 version aims to address a bug that has been latent since the introduction of Leopard's position-independent executables feature, where certain sensitive processes (like, say, ssh) could be run from a randomized memory address, avoiding attack vectors that depend on targeting a specific vulnerable spot within the code.Up until the 2008-002 security patches, according to RA, the PIE feature wasn't used for anything yet -- after the update, surprise surprise, ssh is being moved around when it runs. Since Instant Hijack inspects newly launched processes to see if they have audio properties, it tries to look at the ssh instance in memory -- hey, wherdja go? Hence the problem.If you have been experiencing ssh issues and have Rogue Amoeba apps installed, try the patch and let us know what happens.[via Daring Fireball + Apple discussions]
Rogue Amoeba on code signing, iPhone SDK
Mike Ash at Rogue Amoeba has published his fairly extensive thoughts on Apple's code signing policies and plans, as well as how they relate to the iPhone SDK. He makes some solid points and elaborates on thoughts that are being bandied about elsewhere on the 'net. In his critique of some points in the iPhone SDK announcement, his concerns regarding the "banned" iPhone apps are quite valid, in my opinion. Out of the list of apps to be denied (illegal, malicious, unforeseen, privacy, porn and bandwidth hog), he picks out a couple that are of concern. In regards to the issue of "porn", he notes that "...Apple is making moral judgements of the apps they sign." To me, it seems like Apple chose the safe option and just categorically denied materials that could sully their reputation, which I personally think was a good (if not obvious) choice. But the question arises, as it always does, about the definition of porn and obscenity... and who makes the call. Apple, as gatekeeper, gets to make those decisions for all of us. I can see some torrid debates arising in the future.Also of particular (and potentially more controversial) concern is the category "unforeseen," which provides a fairly broad scope for Apple to add to the list later. Again, it's likely a smart decision on Apple's part and a good way of sealing off loopholes without making the list read like a legal contract (see "License Agreement"), but leaves open the option for some heavy-handed control over what you can put on your iPhone.Of course, this initial list is incomplete, with restrictions outlined in the SDK license agreement (as pointed out in Rogue Amoeba's subsequent post). If you take an interest in this debate, be sure to check out Mike's post, "Code Signing and You."
MakeiPhoneRingtone returns from the Dead
Rogue Amoeba, our favorite weaponized unicellular developer, has ressurected its free custom ringtone utility. Like an uncanny Zombie movie, iPhone firmware update 1.1.2 has dragged MakeiPhoneRingtone back from the beyond. 1.1.2's ringtone support once again allows you to add custom ringtones. Drop any AAC file onto its icon and the utility processes your audio and hands it off to iTunes, where you can sync it to your iPhone. As I discussed in my earlier post, you need to keep your ringtones about 40 seconds or shorter. But other than that, you're simply good to go.
Do Macworld with the Amoeba
Think of all the wonderful things you can get from Amoebas. Audio Hijack Pro. Fission. Dysentery. And now Macworld! Yes, those wild and crazy Amoeboid Lifeforms want you to be their guest at Macworld. Pop over to the Rogue Amoeba site to pick up your MWSF promo code for free (or $10) Exhibit Hall Passes for Macworld 2008. You need to sign up at MacworldExpo.com before 1/14/08. The first 100 lucky readers get their passes for free. After that, they reduce your cost to just $10 each.
Radioshift 1.0
Radioshift is the latest app from those audio obsessed fellows at Rogue Amoeba. Thanks the to included Radio Guide, which has over 50,000 internet streamed radio programs listed, this app allows you to find your favorite radio show and record it. The power of the app is that it doesn't just record the program once, but it will record every instance of the program. Your favorite radio show airs once a week? Set Radioshift to record the stream and forget it (until it starts to play on your iPod thanks to Radioshift's ability to add the shows to iTunes).It is worth mentioning that Radioshift, out of the box, only records radio shows that offer up an internet stream. You can combine it with the radio SHARK to record Over the Air programs as well though.Radioshift costs $32, and has a free trial available.
MakeiPhoneRingtone hits 1.1, further obsoletes the ringtones racket
Rogue Amoeba has already updated their MakeiPhoneRingtone application to 1.1, in order to bring in the Cleverboy hack that was discovered the other day. If you missed it, they also posted a guide on how to turn any audio file into an AAC file with their product Fission (but don't forget that iTunes will also do it for you as well, it just won't cut your file for you). We're still waiting on someone to make a program that turns any file into a ringtone by itself (Rogue Amoeba is talking about adding the functionality straight to Fission), but all the tools are there.So Apple's whole ringtone system is completely, totally, and devastatingly broken. Why would anyone possibly pay money for ringtones from iTunes when it's so incredibly easy to make your own? As Gruber said in his great and very thorough commentary, the whole Ringtone racket is just that -- a racket. There's no such thing as a "ringtone" -- a ringtone is exactly the same as a song, in a different context. The idea that studios should charge more for you to choose which 30 seconds of a song you want to listen to is complete bunk.And if you think ringtones are a joke (and I do -- I've been rolling my own ever since my first cellphone), just wait until you hear about "ringles". Unbelievable.
