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Different Ways To Save On Ringtones

(CBS4) If you do not have a ringtone, you have heard one.

Keeping up with the latest hits can be costly, though.

Liana Veda's ringtone is an extension of her personality. "My ringtones have to be something that I can dance to. I want to hear my phone and I want to start moving."

She has about a dozen different ringtones, and they are constantly changing.

"I change my ringtone about every two weeks."

But, at $2.50 a pop, it adds up. In fact, a ringtone is only a few bars of the song, and the whole song can be downloaded for less than a buck.

"It's like you're paying 10 to 20 times what the song cost you as a full song to get a piece of it as a ringtone," says Brian Cooley of cnet.com.

There are cheaper ways. The ringtone industry is expected to triple by 2010, and new ways to get ringtones are popping up all over.

Right now, most music lovers get their ringtones through their phone companies at a premium. But, if you have a song you already downloaded, new software from companies like Ringtone Media Studios and Xingtone, will allow you to transfer it to your phone.

"Pick a piece of the song you want, you hit send, gets sent to your phone, you download it, and save it as a ringtone," says Jonathan Schreiber of Xingtone.

You can also record a specific sound - like a family member's voice for your ringtone. Experts say customization is what people really want.

Ringtones have become so big that Billboard Magazine actually keeps a list of the hottest cell phone downloads each week.

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