I was really excited to get a new cell phone, and I decided to go with the LG Chocolate over the Motorola KRZR. Well, I quickly discovered that mp3 ringtones for my phone cost $2.99 apiece! I grumbled enough paying $1.50 for a polyphonic ringtone, but $3 is just too much. So I spent a bit of time finding a workaround to get my own ringtones on the phone. I quickly discovered a piece of software called BitPIM that will access contacts, calendars, messages, and ringtones on a large assortment of cell phones, including the Chocolate. However, to use BitPIM you need a special USB cable to connect to the phone. The cable itself costs $20, but it comes included with a headset in the Verizon Media Essentials Kit for $30. I found the kit on eBay for cheaper.

So after about a week I had everything I needed. BitPIM automatically recognized my phone. But when I click on the "Get Phone Data" button, I got an error stating the file directories on the phone where not accessible. After some internet searching, I found out that I have version 6 of the Chocolate software. BitPIM only works with version 4. An upcoming version of BitPIM will work with version 5, but version 6 is locked down tight. Well, at least I can use the USB cable to transfer mp3s to my phone just to listen to them, but to be honest, the Chocolate is not better than a dedicated mp3 player.

But wait, there's another option. I actually tried this before I shelled out any money for the Music Essentials Kit. You can send text messages to any verizon phone by email! The address is just [phonenumber]@vzwpix.com (remember to include the area code in the phone number). It also allows you to transfer pictures, audio, and video files this way. So I tried it by sending myself a couple of very short (30 seconds or less) mp3 files. My phone received the messages right away, and allowed me to save the audio as a ringtone, but the audio sounded horrible! It appears that somewhere along the way, the mp3 files were converted to crappy qcp files (don't ask me what those are!). So I gave up on that option right away and went ahead with the BitPIM method.

After BitPIM failed with the Chocolate, I thought about the email method again. QCP seems to be more of a container format than an actual encoding, so I thought to myself, "Why not just change .mp3 to .qcp on the file name and try that?" I mean, the phone already plays mp3s, so I just have to get the file to my phone without it being downconverted. As a qcp file, it should pass through unaltered to the phone. And what do you know? It works!

OK, so here's how to get free ringtones on a locked-down LG Chocolate:

1. Create a short mp3 file (about 30 seconds at 96kpbs). I think it needs to be less than 350 kb.

2. Open the folder on your PC containing the new mp3 file. Go to Tools > Folder Options..., select the View tab and uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types". This makes the ".mp3" part of the filename visible.

3. Change the file extension from ".mp3" to ".qcp"

4. Attach the qcp file to an email sent to [yourphonenumber]@vzwpix.com

5. Once you receive the message on your phone, select "Options" and then "Set as Ringtone". Voila!