Mobile Phones and Music

Written by vividimagery on Thu, 28/05/2009 - 8:51pm in Articles mobile phone

Mobile phones and music have always had a special relationship dating right back to the days of the first ringtones. People used to pay big bucks to have a version of their favourite song rendered in monosyllabic beeps, and the irritation this invoked in strangers on a train is just a memory now. Phones have developed incredibly over the past few years, going past the simple polyphonic ringtones to having the ability to play mp3s and other media formats, allowing users to listen to music as it was intended on their phones. Mobile phones in recent months have also begun to include better and better built in speakers, with the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music leading the pack in this category. The storage space on mobile phones has also continued to rise, and now even the most basic phone will be able to play back mp3 audio files and store thousands of songs provided it has an appropriate card slot for storage expansion and data transfer.

The question that the observer must face is how has the proliferation of music and media playback on phones changed the way in which music is listened to and accessed? Well, Nokia have caused one of the most notable changes with their music phones. With most package they offer their users access to unlimited music downloads with no charge for any of the tracks in their vast library. The only cost incurred is the contract cost and the mobile data transfer fees. This, like digital downloads on PCs, has revolutionised the way in which music is purchased by fans, and as in most cases this revolution is being dictated by the young.

The second and perhaps more widely known change which music playing phones has brought about is the use of built in speakers on a phone to listen to music. Though the results are often tinny and underwhelming in terms of quality, there are a large number of young people who will play music from their phones whilst walking along the street or sitting on a bus or train. This is, like many issues, a double edged sword. Sharing music in this way does add to the social element of the scene, and urban music like hip hop and grime in the UK are built around a community of sharing and social listening. Mobile phones can be used in this way to increase the status of rising artists and introduce new people to new music. However, in public places the use of such tactics is seen by some to be intrusive at best and anti-social at worst. Whilst there will always be clashes of opinion between generations, in this case one person`s favourite track is another`s noise pollution.

This problem has been rectified somewhat with the inclusion of headphone jacks which fit a majority of headphones, allowing mobile owners to use their own headphones for the best audio quality. The arguments over the place of music on mobile phones deals with some key issue about artistic and expressive freedoms, but now with internet radio streaming available on some handsets, expect the mobile phone and music to continue to work in harmony.