Siemens gets hip to Beatnik music

Siemens plans to add a music synthesizer created by wireless software company Beatnik into some of its future phones, the world's No. 4 cell phone maker said Monday.

The Beatnik software, called the Beatnik Audio Engine, has been used by online gaming communities for several years. In February 2001, Beatnik released a retooled version of the engine for cell phones to create more complex ring tones and sound effects for cell phone games. Siemens is the third major cell phone company to license the software.