Happy 4th of Julie

So, thanks to Julie’s inspiration, I now have Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever as my phone’s ring tone. Bring on the fireworks. This process was relatively straightforward:

1. Install Kyocera’s MP3 maker, which takes an MP3 file and produces a .pdb file.
2. Move the Sousa file out of my iTunes Music folder and put it back in my shared folder where it’s supposed to be
3. Sync the shared folder with my ThinkPad
4. Run the MP3 utility, producing a file named “stars.mp3.pdb”
5. Helpfully rename the file and copy it onto my SD card.
6. Struggle with figuring out why the file doesn’t appear (hint: it doesn’t appreciate being renamed to “stars.pdb” vice “stars.mp3.pdb”)
7. Say “to hell with it” and sync the phone normally
8. Soft reset
9. Profit! (no, wait, that comes later)
10. Notice that the ringtone appears in Prefs Phone where it belongs.
11. Crank up the volume and enjoy.

(And let’s not forget that traditional toast: “God bless the United States, and success to the Marines!”)