Ringtone rant

I had to buy a ringtone for my new phone, and I object. Under normal circumstances I'm a cheapskate, and since I've got about 2 1/2 months to find a job before I go on unemployment, I'm even more frugal at the moment.

I hardly talk on the phone, so I've got Virgin Mobile's cheapest--pink, because the black phone was an extra $5. The tones on it are mostly hip and cool, but they are apparently designed for younger ears than mine. There's a muffled sounding video game theme, someone sort of panting over music, a male voice mumbling about music over music, a female voice mumbling and giggling over music, and one actual phone sound which would have been OK, except it is the one my wife uses.

None of the included musical ones are easy to distinguish over background noise.

I wound up with the intro to Baba O'Riley:


I'm a fan of The Who, but the primary consideration was that it is something I can actually hear. This isn't my favorite song (although it is better than average) but it is the best bit of a song I could think of for use as a ringtone.

It seems wrong to pay more for a fraction of a song than the whole song would cost on iTunes. On the other hand, it is astounding that even after buying the ringtone, the total is still under $20 for a phone that doesn't have the rest of the price buried in a multi-year contract.