Cell phones are used for communication. But more and more, personalized services and the entertainment quotient involved with cell phones has grown in importance. As a result, ringtones have been revolutionized. The original one tone ringer was the first step towards polyphonic tones, but that ringer, and others like it, was known as a monophonic ringtone. Some of the first cell phones came equipped with a one-tone ringer.

Monophonic is the simplest of ringtone technology that uses a MIDI format. This one note wonder changed ringtones and no more would you hear simple chirps and chimes, but rather, you could play a popular song. A single note playing a song resembles a monophonic ringtone sound. You can recognize your favorite song, but it sounds a little off, because there is not that much control with a single tone format.

But still many users do use the monophonic ringtones. With the ease with which you can download ringtones from the Internet, many portals today provide free monophonic tones. The most popular among these are songs, typical instrumental tones, or even composed monophonic tones. Also, the size of a monophonic ringtone is small and if you convert it into MP3 then it becomes even smaller, and what is known as a microtone. Many monophonic tones are still popular because most of the older models of handsets keep circulating among users who dont crave all the latest features of more expensive modern phones. As these handsets support only monophonic tones, its still not the end of the road for monophonic ringtones. Moreover, with newer ways of composing simple tones, free downloads of monophonic tones will not end any time soon.