Skype to Sell $1.50 Ringtones

Skype joined the burgeoning ringtone business Tuesday, announcing a deals with record labels EMI, Sony and Warner Music to sell song clips to customers for $1.50 each. The Internet telephone company owned by eBay will begin offering Madonna ringtones on Wednesday, with more artists slated to follow.

The ringtone business continues to flourish, raking in over $4.4 billion in 2005 alone. Skype hopes it can capitalize on the market by selling the clips to its more than 100 million users. However, unlike on their cell phones, Skype users can already import audio clips directly from their hard drives.