Using your mobile phone Download music to your mobile phone

Listening to music on your mobile phone has never been easier. The blistering advancement of technology in the mobile phone industry means that music functionality is now almost a basic feature of mobile phone handsets.

But, if you're new to digital music players, you may find downloading and managing your music files a bit confusing. Read on for our basic guide to getting music onto your mobile phone.

Which? has tested hundreds of mobile phones in our labs and rated them according to how well they perform different activities. See the phones that got the best scores for playing music. 

Adding music to your phone

The easiest way to add music to your mobile phone is by transferring songs you've already saved on your computer. These tracks will either have been imported from CDs or downloaded from a service such as iTunes.

To transfer your songs you first have to connect your mobile phone to the computer using a USB cable or Bluetooth - although USB will be much faster. Next open My Computer or Computer from your Start menu. Your computer should automatically detect the phone. Double-click on the phone's icon in the open window.

Next open the folder with your saved music. Then simply copy the songs that you wish to move to your phone, by right clicking on your mouse and selecting Copy, and paste them into the open phones folder.

Music file types

Music files come in a multitude of types. By far the most popular is MP3, which is compatible with nearly all music-playing phones, and is used as standard for download sites such as eMusic and iTunes.

However, when choosing a music-playing phone it is important to check what file types it supports and what file types the majority of your music collection is stored in.

For instance, if you rip your CDs using Windows Media Player then - if you didn't change the settings - those files will be WMA (Windows Media Audio).

There are also file types such as FLAC and Ogg Vorbis, which are used by those looking for CD-quality sound.

If you find that your phone doesn't support the file types of your music collection you can always buy software such as Media Monkey, which can convert most music files into Mp3s.

Downloading music to your mobile

It is 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.

If possible, it's best to download music over a wi-fi internet connection, such as the one you might have at home, as this will probably be the fastest option and won't use any of your phone's data allowance.

With a 3G connection, it should take about 30 seconds to download a song, or 15-20 seconds via HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access, or 3.5G).

If you have a basic GPRS connection it will take about five minutes.

Music download sites

There are a host of different music download sites. The most famous is Apple's iTunes, which has more than 11 million tracks in its catalogue. Single track price on a tiered system, costing 59p, 79p or 99p, with most albums priced at £7.99.

iTunes only works on the iPhone handset (plus the iPod range of Mp3 players) but there are lots of other pay-per-track services, including HMV, Amazon and Tesco.

Some download services offer a subscription instead, allowing you to download a certain number of tracks or albums for a set monthly fee.

Music streaming

As well as music download services, you can also sign up to online streaming subscriptions that allow you to listen to as much music as you want online. However, these services, like Spotify and Last FM, don’t allow you to keep the music that you download.

Buying headphones for your mobile

If you listen to a lot of music using your mobile phone it's worth considering upgrading your headphones. Although most phones come with a supplied set, our tests have found that these are normally pretty poor - using a good set will really improve the sound quality.

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