Will ringtones kill the radio stars?
By Adam Morton

Australia may never have a music chart based on ring tones, but a weekly list ranking digital downloads from the Internet should be available before summer.

Stephen Peach, chief executive of the Australian Recording Industry Association, said he hoped the kinks in organising a download chart - which has been in the works for over a year - would disappear once the Apple's iTunes Music Store opened in Australia.

This date, however, remains frustratingly elusive.

"We've made no secret of the fact that we're very keen to launch a digital download chart as soon as we can, in whatever form," Mr Peach told theage.com.au

"It should happen this year, and I'd certainly like to see it in the third quarter rather than the fourth quarter."

Mr Peach said ARIA was technically prepared and "ready, willing and able to go" with a download chart.

"The hold-up has really been in getting all the online providers to give us data," he said.

Mr Peach said iTunes - the only site where iPod users can legally download songs - had a "catalytic effect", prompting a rapid rise in digital download sales, wherever it was launched around the globe.