Up until recently, music player functions on cell phones have almost always been confined to ring tones, the pricey song snippets that you order through your phones mobile web browser. A select few high entry phones would allow you to import music from a computer but it hasn’t been possible to download songs directly to your cell phone. Now, major cell companies such as Bell, Rogers, Sprint, Nextel, Verizon, Virgin and Amp’d have introduced the first music-downloading services for cell phones.

In recent tests, the services seemed to work as promised by allowing the users to order and download a song directly to a compatible cell phone; however the services had some drawbacks. Compared with music you buy online or "rip" from CDs, songs you buy from them are generally lower in sound quality, usually more expensive to buy, and less easy to move from device to device.

To get started, chances are you'll probably need to upgrade both your cell phone and your plan to begin music downloads. Only a handful of new phones work with these services, and they're mostly pricey.