Fierce Wireless recently reported that music downloads to cell phones will make up 30 percent of the industry's revenue by 2011, more than doubling today's estimated 13 percent till. That suggests mobile music downloads will grow far more popular than they already are.

This begs the question: Just how important is mobile music to cell phone users? Important enough if iPods, iPhones, and phones are sold primarily for their players. More pointedly, how important are cell phone music downloads to you? Are they more wanted than videos or games, or just as popular? What's your preferred technique … Read more

There's always potential for massive dorkiness when parents venture into a new pop culture arena like customized ringtones. I had stayed away from this trend, due to a general state of information overload as well as concerns about deceptive ringtone services that promise a free ringtone and then surreptitiously subscribe you to ongoing charges.

But this week I have been getting to know my iPhone better and the new version of iTunes has a ringtone function, so I decided to check it out.

The new iTunes feature is easy to use. You buy a ringtone-designated song from iTunes for 99 cents, select the snippet you want to use, and then pay another 99 cents to make it into a ringtone that you can upload to iPhone. Now there is theoretically a workaround that you can use to create free ringtone, but I can't vouch for it. For me, I wasn't going to sweat the $1.98, for which you do get the actual song added to your iTunes library.

Okay, getting the ringtone is easy, but who is there to solve the existential angst of deciding which song to use to announce the incoming call of that special someone? My husband Michael is a musician, so I didn't want any old piece of pop dreck to signal his calls. Given my taste, it was at least going to be a very special piece of pop dreck.

… Read more

Virgin Mobile yesterday announced a new feature that lets its subscribers take personalization on their phones to a new level. Studio V will allow users to create their own ringtones and wallpapers in an online community. Virgin Mobile gives you a ringtone mixer to create your work and you'll be able to manipulate photos and graphics to your liking.

The pricing scheme is a little quirky. Though you'll be able to use Studio V for free, you'll have to pay to download your own content to your phone. Wallpapers will be $1.99 each and ringtones are $… Read more

LetsTalk has launched a new service this morning called ToneMine that lets you build your own ringtones. The service uses a multitrack composer that lets you drag and drop short, prerecorded sound clips onto an editing canvas. There are eight themed "packs" to choose from ranging from hip-hop and salsa, all the way to heavy metal. You also get some shared sound clips that will show up no matter what pack you've chosen.

The eventual goal is a takeaway ringtone you'll be able to use on your phone. You can get it sent directly to your handset via your carrier (which is configured when you sign up for the service), or download it as an MP3 ringtone to transfer on your own. You can also share it with other ToneMine users in a massive pool. There you can preview other people's ringtones and go in to remix them if you'd like to change something. It also keeps track of how many times it's been listened to and downloaded by other users.

Despite the selection of eight packs, there's really not that much to play with, although the editor is quite snappy. As an occasional user of Apple's Garageband application, I felt like the one thing it's missing is the capability to extend a looping sound clip. Instead, you're often dragging more clips together as well as you can. The service is also missing some of the commercial tie-in you'll find on competitors like Razz and Ringblender--the latter of which actually lets you go in and remix bits of commercial songs. It also reminded me a little bit of MusicShake, which demoed at last month's TechCrunch40 conference, although with a little less extensibility.

On a side note, for any 24 fans, you can get that wonderful CTU office ringtone free of charge from the site. I've embedded it after the break.… Read more

Your boyfriend forget your 30th birthday?

Try sending some raging elephants his way.

Vringo, a video ringtone sharing company, announced Tuesday it's adding video clips from the Discovery Channel to its bevy of video ringtones offerings.

The 2- to 10-second Discovery Channel video clips run the gamut, of yes, raging elephants to bees to serene sunsets.

While the video clips are free, users have to be subscribers to Vringo on both the sending and receiving end to make use of the service. Users also need a compatible phone, such as one running on Symbian J2ME, or the Windows Mobile … Read more

It seems people are already thinking about dressing up their phones for the upcoming holiday season.

The theme song to Halloween is this week's Billboard No. 1 ringtone.

Whether your Halloween party theme is "bad high school prom" (like the one I got invited to) or just the regular "come as a freak," certainly it's fun to spice up your incoming calls with a unique seasonal ringtone.

But surely CNET's readers can get more original than the theme to Halloween.

Here are some ideas for fun and unique Halloween/autumn ringtones from the … Read more

This was the most entertaining idea at DemoFall so far, and probably the most ridiculous: MixGet (site not live yet). It's technology that turns individual cellphones into synchronized music players. So if you have a crowd of people together, one person's phone might play a guitar track, another vocals, another drums.

The presenter tried to justify this product as a potential new kind of ringtone, but I'm not sure I see it. This project is from Redsquare Ventures, which is trying to bring Russian entrepreneurs' ideas to market.

I love this idea. But I don't see … Read more

Myxer introduced a new feature at DemoFall: a widget to instantly upload photos, videos or ringtones to mobile phones.

It's aimed at people who want to make money on things like wallpaper and ringtones but don't have the technical know-how or the resources to distribute it themselves. Mobilized by Myxer is a delivery platform that can push any content to any phone. They've promised to keep up on the constantly fluctuating mobile standards and phones that enter the market so you don't have to. The only requirements are that users own the content they want to … Read more

Hopefully, the start of the television season means the return of more interesting (and free) ringtones from network and show sites.

Yes, it's blatant advertising and probably an attempt to get your cell number and market research info. But, you can't deny it's also fun to have a Heroes ringtone on your little cell phone.

As for Billboard's top ringtones chart, it's the same top four favorites. Henry Mancini's "Pink Panther" theme ringtone is in No. 1, with Grupo Montez De Durango's "Adios Amor Te Vas" at No. 2, … Read more