<i>American Idol</i> and Cingular offer Live Idol Ringtones

The ring-tone phenomena just reached a new level of Hollywood hype today. Cingular Wireless has announced it'll be offering Live Idol Ringtones, which are ring tones of songs performed live by American Idol contestants. These Live Idol Ringtones will be available literally overnight (pending publisher's clearance), the day after the Tuesday night American Idol performance. Ring tones traditionally take weeks and months to produce in the music industry (most likely, thanks to legal wranglings), so this overnight production is seen as a unique first. Cingular customers can preorder their desired song on Tuesday night, then receive a text reminder the next day to download the ring tone. They can purchase the ring tones one of three ways:

1. Text IDOL to 8008 for a direct link to the latest finalists' Live Idol Ringtones. 2. Go to Media Net on your Cingular phone, choose Ringtones, then American Idol.
3. Go online to Cingular Source.

The 30-second ring tones are available for a wallet-hurting $2.49 each, and customers will be able to browse and buy Live Idol Ringtones from past performances for the current season.