Phones, tones and mobile music
By Mark Ward

If mobile phone ringtones annoy you, then buy your ear plugs now because the tinny tunes are about to get a lot harder to ignore.

As everyone knows, most mobile phones reproduce popular - and not so popular - tunes with a series of beeps.
The limited capabilities of most handsets mean that, although the beeps can vary by several octaves, they can only be played one at a time.

It's well known that the resulting stream of sound is an aural delight, is never annoying, and only enhances its surroundings, whether it's played on a cramped commuter train, at a cricket match or during a performance of Wagner's Ring.

Top tracks

But this is all about to change.

Although you might not have realised it, your next phone will probably be able to play "polyphonic" ringtones.
They will no longer be condemned to playing one beep at a time; instead they have a much larger tonal range, play several sounds at once and mix in drum beats and other effects.

"The phone has a mini-soundcard in it," said Adam Freeman, head of ringtones seller Phunky Phones.

Click here for a monophonic tone sample



Mr Freeman said each polyphonic ringtone could have up to 16 separate sounds playing at once.

The result is much closer to actual music, even if it hasn't entirely left behind the beepy beginnings of the first ringtones.

Currently, there are only a few phones that can play the richer sounding ringtones but, said Mr Freeman, interest was picking up.

We can see from first impressions that it's going to be mad," he said.

Some regular customers of Phunky Phones have asked to be told when the polyphonic tones are ready to download and buy.

Mr Freeman said he was feverishly working to turn existing tunes into polyphonic tones.

"I've been spending the last two weeks with it trying to make it work," he said.

"Before now, it took five minutes to make a ringtone," he said. "Now, it takes about an hour."