How to Capture Web Content and Add it to Your LG Touch as a Ringtone

There really aren't too many phone companies that would just hand out an application that lets you bypass the entire marketing structure of one of their product's features. LG did just that, their new VX8575 allows you to place ringtones into a separate ringtone area by going to tools and selecting "USB Mass Storage". Although, unfortunately I did not know this right away. After a very long search of the web trying to get ringtone software for my previous phone, an LG VX8550(LG Chocolate) I had stumbled across one single post on the back end of a tech site I had never heard of before that mentioned a piece of software that was supposed to do the job, BitPIM.

Now, not exactly being the trusting sort I had my reservations. I checked LG's web site and couldn't find anything about it. I then searched the web for alerts or warnings about it but actually found a lot of support for the program instead. The software, called BitPIM is a longtime resident of source forge. It is an open source application thus making it a bit harder to hide malevolent code in it. Reassured that this particular app had a good chance of being legit I downloaded BitPIM ver. 1.1.7 and gave it a go.

It was a fairly easy piece of software to use. What was immediatly obvious though is this software requires a data cable. I was lucky and my wifes data cable for her LG actually fit my phone even though I had an older phone on a prepaid account. The next thing I had to do was go to Verizons web site and download the CDMA drivers for my phone. They come bundled in the Rhapsody and data manager packages. Either one should work. Just install the software from Verizons website and then close it out and run BitPIM.

BitPIM is a pretty straight forward data transfer application. You can't use it to capture ringtones, only to install them after you have them as files, so I was only halfway there. I still had to find something that would do a good job of grabbing sound bites. While rummaging through my data archives I came across an old app that I had kicking around. NCH WavePad Sound Editor. Using WavePad on my Compaq desktop running Windows XP I can actually capture directly from the sound card's playback buffer without a microphone installed. I believe it's a function of the windows mixer that allows it. With NCH's downloadable version you seem to be able to capture any audio that your sound card can put out regardless of it's origins. This allows you to capture sound bites from music, TV shows, webisodes, DVD movies, possibly even VoIP calls and countless other sources. I just opened up a copy of World of Warcraft to make it quick and recorded a murloc, a few player character jokes and a couple of music samples to test it out.

I first saved the clips at 48K as MP3 format files. Then opening BitPIM I ran into another problem. The new phone I had just purchased after my VX8550 was not supported. I had succeeded at putting all of these files on my older phone with this method and was very disappointed my new VX8575 was not supported. I decided to try the very old and sometimes very successful tactic of lying to the computer. I went into BitPIMs "Edit" menu and then into "Settings" and changed it from "Other CDMA" to "LG-VX8560". I figured simplemindedly enough "meh, it's only short by 15." Well, it worked like a charm. I did have one small issue with changing between different phones and plugging and unplugging it. The computer had changed the com port from 5 to 7 for the newer phone and I had to use the find phone button to correct the issue. So, with the exception of having to remind BitPIM every time you restart the phone or unplug and plug it back in that it's a LGVX85xx in the settings the transfer functions all seem to work without further problems.

So having some MP3 clips available I then opened the folder they were in and also navigated BitPIM's pane to the "Ringers" section which is located under "Media". Then dragged and dropped the new ringers straight into BitPIM. When you do this the software will request that you convert them to it's native format and may warn you of their length if they are very long. After they have been successfully placed into BitPIM you need only press the send to phone button and select which data sets to transfer to the phone. You should see the files transferring in the status bar at the bottom of the window. When it has finished, your phone will reboot and BitPIM will no longer recognize it. If it is a VX8575 or other technically unsupported model you will have to modify the settings again. It tells you in the status bar at the bottom right wether it recognizes the phone or not.

I was surprised really at how easy it was to figure it out, as I am not the brightest bulb on the tree but I was very pleased at the results. The quality of the audio clips are not degraded by the software although you may have to tweak your sound files volume before running them through BitPIM. My Meowmix Rhapsody ringtone turned out so quiet I couldn't hear it ringing unless it was up to my head.

It was only after I had been introduced to this particular process involving BitPIM and subsequently having installed all the ringers I wanted (Including the Geico "Worst Ringtone in the World", Available from their website as a download or direct capture from one of their commercials) that I was poking around in the phones settings and discovered that the Chocolate Touch had this new "USB Mass Storage" feature. *sigh* but all was not in vain. because not all phones have this feature and I am certain there are other people that are in need of these programs. so for those of you who are like me (too cheap to pay for a ringtone) , "Ringity Ding Ding Dingy Dong!"
Sorry, I have to take this call.