Listening to music on your mobile phone

Music formats

If you want to store music on your phone, buy a removable memory card

First, make sure your chosen mobile phone handset will play the music on your computer. This might sound strange, but depending on the format you've stored your music in, it might not play on certain music phones.

You can find out what format a track’s in by right-clicking on it and then selecting ‘properties’. Typically it will be an MP3, AAC or WMA file. You can then check if it's supported on the phone you want to buy by checking our mobile phone reviews or by contacting the manufacturer or retailer.

Memory

All mobile phones have a memory that allows you to save information. Basic models will usually only have a small internal memory, but this is usually sufficient for limited functions such as storing contact details and text messages.

However, if you plan to store music on your phone, you'll need a larger memory. Some internal memories now hold over 1GB of information (approximately 220 songs) but removable memory cards are a more common solution.

Memory cards

These also offer a convenient means for moving files quickly from your handset to a compatible PC and vice versa.

If a phone has an expandable memory slot, make sure you ask the retailer if it comes with a memory card and, if it does, ask how big it is. If it doesn't come with one, you'll need to buy one, and if it does, but it's not high capacity, you might need a larger one.

Headphones

To improve sound quality, swap your mobile's headphones for a Best Buy set

Also check whether you can use your own headphones to listen to music on your mobile phone. While all music phones come with their own headphones, our tests show the sound quality will almost always be improved by using a good set of your own. See our headphones reviews for current Best Buys.

Annoyingly though, many phones have a proprietary connector that will only accept the manufacturer's headphones. However this isn’t always the case - some do have a standard 3.5mm headphones jack while others provide an adaptor that lets you use regular headphones.

Another option is to listen wirelessly. This is done via Bluetooth, but in order to listen in stereo you’ll need a phone that’s compatible with the latest version of Bluetooth - also known as A2DP.

Other music phone features

Radio

As well as letting you listen to your own music, many mobile phone handsets also come with built-in FM radio. Newer handsets also sometime feature the Radio Data System (RDS) which allows them to display the name of the station you’re tuned into.

Flight mode

Flight mode is another option. This lets you play music when your phone is off – handy on aircraft, where phones can’t be left on.

Battery

Finally, don't forget listening to music on your phone will drain the battery faster than usual, so the longer the battery lasts to start with, the better.

Downloading music

It’s now possible to bypass your PC and download music straight to your mobile

Many people will be happy just listening to songs they’ve transferred to their phone from their computer. These tracks will either have been imported from CDs or downloaded from a service such as iTunes.

However it’s now possible to bypass your PC and download music straight to your mobile. If you’re planning on doing this regularly then you’ll need a fast internet connection. 

With a 3G connection, it should take about 30 seconds to download a song, or takes 15-20 seconds via HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access, or 3.5G). If you have a basic GPRS connection it will take about two minutes.

Download sites

Vodafone MusicStation and Nokia Music Store both launched on 1 November 2007. For £1.99 a week, Vodafone customers can download unlimited tracks from Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Music and Warner Music Group direct to their handsets.

The Nokia Music Store can be accessed via a compatible Nokia handset, or a PC. Individual tracks cost 80p and albums start from £8. The store also offers a monthly £8 subscription for PC streaming - which allows you to listen to tunes online without downloading them.

Since July 2007, T-Mobile has offered more than one million tracks at £1 a song on its Mobile Jukebox. It offers a dual-download service to both compatible handsets and PCs.

Rival network 3 has a similar service with 3MusicStore, which offers 1.2million tracks at £1.29 each.