iTunes sells CD quality songs for 99 cents each. It costs $2.99 for just a piece of the same song as a freakin ringtone and annual sales are approaching $700M …or about 10% of all music industry sales! The industry is even awarding Gold and Platinum awards for ringtones… It’s insanity I say! Rapper Rick Ross actually said, “when he goes into the studio in the future, the idea of making a popular ring tone will definitely be a part of the process.”1. I just cannot imagine Robert Plant saying to Jimmy Page, “Stairway is good mate, but it’s no ringtone.”

For the record, this cranky old man charges his daughters for their ringtone habit and for 411 calls… This month it was nineteen bucks between the two of them. That will buy like what, 4 lattes?

1. CBSNews.com