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August 31, 2007 9:34 AM PDT

Reports: Apple plans to sell ringtones through iTunes

by Tom Krazit

Everyone seems pretty sure Apple will have new iPods next week at a media event in San Francisco. Could iPhone ringtones also be on the menu?

The Los Angeles Times and The New York Post both reported Friday that Apple plans to let iPhone users purchase ringtones through the iTunes Store, in addition to unveiling new iPods next Wednesday. The ringtone deal would only apply to iPhone users, according to the Times, but the Post said iPhone users would also be able to make ringtones out of songs they've already purchased from the iTunes Store.

Ringtone deals are less sexy than iPods, but there's money there. An awful lot of people are willing to shell out a few bucks for the ability to put the song of their choice on their cell phone. Rumors about ringtones through iTunes have swirled for years, but things are obviously different these days now that Apple's a cell phone company.

The Post reported that Universal Music would not be a part of Apple's ringtone deal, coming off the news that Universal's NBC network plans to pull its television shows from the iTunes Store.

Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom.
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Iphone ringtones
by Cinderz August 31, 2007 10:20 AM PDT
But it only uses polytones as ringers.
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Lock-in is in full effect
by kojacked August 31, 2007 12:39 PM PDT
It's nice to see Apple is keeping to their habit of locking people in. You can't upload your own ring tones or use your own MP3s that your purchased elsewhere. You have to buy everything from Apple because you are paying for Apple's quality after all. Apple makes the best ringtones on the planet and of course they play a hand in making the music that can be converted to a ringtone...

I guess it's a wash since the speaker on the iPhone sounds horrible. It's easily overpowered and distorts the sound. For such an expensive phone it sure sounds cheap.
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Apple ringtones - Phonezoo
by shawn-taylor September 4, 2007 12:18 PM PDT
Apple will support only itunes/iphones. You can already do this for all phones via a fun application at www.phonezoo.com
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why pay
by tj8212 September 5, 2007 1:07 PM PDT
why pay apple when you can use iphoneringtonemaker?
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