Cell-phone music is costly and clumsy.(up front: News / Trends / Advice)

Up until now, music capability on cell phones has been mostly confined to ring tones-the pricey song snippets that you order via the phone's Web browser. A few phones allow you to import music from a computer, but it hasn't been possible to download songs directly to a cell phone. Now Sprint Nextel, Verizon, and Amp'd, a new cell-service provider, have introduced the first music-downloading services for cell phones.

MAKING THE MUSIC CONNECTION

In our tests, the services worked as promised, but they have drawbacks. Compared with music you buy online or "rip" from CDs, songs you buy from cell-service providers are generally lower in sound quality, usually more expensive to buy, and not as easy to move from device to device.

Don't expect songs downloaded from the phone services to sound as good as those you order from online stores or rip from a CD and listen to on an MP3 player. But in our tests the difference was least pronounced with the Verizon service. Headsets are another issue. The connector the phones use doesn't accept the standard headphone jacks found on better headphones that you can use with MP3 players and the like.

The Verizon and Sprint Nextel music services are the best, though even they have far fewer songs than online music stores (several hundred thousand, compared with more than 1 million on iTunes, for example).

CR's TAKE

None of those music services alone justifies upgrading your cell-phone service or your phone. Instead, they offer an extra capability to those considering upgrades for other reasons. Sprint Nextel is the best of the bunch overall, given the relative ease with which you can shop for and manage your music.