More tunes on phones

Cellphones are still way behind MP3 players in the mobile-music biz, even in the UK, but phone tunes are definitely on the rise, the BBC reports. "Nearly 7% of all chart music [including ringtones] bought this year has been downloaded through a mobile service," says the BBC, adding that "the mobile music business, including ringtones, is now thought to be worth 3.2 billion pounds [$5.6 billion]." Of course, that's a fraction of the music being downloaded to computers from music retail sites (representing "86% of all legal digital downloads of chart music"), which are still a fraction of music CD business. But the ground is shifting under the music industry's feet. In the UK, Vodafone has a new service offering phone tunes for 1.50 pounds each (about $2.60), and Orange will soon follow suit, the BBC reports. Meanwhile, ClickZ Stats reports that mobile video is "set for growth" (that would include music videos as well as audio), and PC World reports there are more and more opportunities to watch TV on our phones in the US.