Mobile phone ringtones market is on boom, with people in favor of special ringtones to be set in their handsets. According to ARC Group consultants, ringtones fetched sales of USD 3.5 billion worldwide in 2007, an increase of 40% to what it was in 2002. Mobile phone ringtones are serving like hot cakes amongst the youth. The market is expanding like anything, with a worldwide revenue generation USD 2.5 Billion annually.

Basically, there are four kinds of ringtones. To start with, Monophonic Ringtones can play a song one note at one time, with no harmonies. Polyphonic Ringtones are music files with harmonies. True tones or Real-life Ringtones may include voice, quotes, or even weird sounds. Master Ringtones, on the other hand, refer to compressed clips of actual song files from a movie or album.

Europe and Asia are leading the way, with the sales of ringtones costing a price of USD 4 each. People are making more money in the sales of ringtones today than in CD singles. Not just that, ringtones have also outperformed legal Internet download services like Apple's iTunes, which mints a wealth of about USD 1 million in a year across the globe.

Teenagers, who act as a fashion symbol, are more inclined more towards ringtones. There has also been an improvement in the sound quality so far. Almost all latest mobiles now offer polyphonic playback and support actual music clips (True tones) that can be used as ringtones. This is where even mobile operators and record labels can mint huge money. A ringtone can be derived from a pop song, on paying a certain royalty fee. For true tones, you will require record labels to get a licensed master recording. No dubious firm that used to provide porn phone lines will be allowed to stay in the industry. Verizon Wireless in the US has tied up with BMG and EMI. T-Mobile is planning to partner with Universal and Sony in Europe.

Record labels and operators are now eating a larger slice of the music download industry on its success of true tones. With the new 3G networks launched in the market, mobiles and music playback are fetching more thriving demand for music downloads to handsets. According to record firms and mobile operators, mobile-music downloads will also command a premium on mobile handsets for using fixed-lines services like iTunes.

Several people even pay for ringtones to be directly uploaded on their mobile phones via SMS on a regular basis. Not many are aware with fixed-line services, such as iTunes or Napster, or being a member of such kind of services can enable them to download legal music and transfer ringtones to their mobile phones without paying anything. What is required is nothing but a Bluetooth device that will not fetch you more than 10 pounds.

If you are planning to make your ringtone a little more adventurous, you can always download software from the Internet that can facilitate you to create your own music and later you can transfer it to your mobile phone on your own with ease.