The New York Times personal technology columnit David Pogue writes today about iTunes' ability to convert some purchased tracks into ringtones. Pogue is baffled by the cost of the ringtones and calls them "the last great digital rip off."

"Pop song ringtones from T-Mobile and Sprint cost $2.50 apiece; from Verizon, $3. You don't get to customize them, choose the start and end points, adjust the looping and so on. Incredibly, after 90 days, every Sprint ringtone dies, and you have to pay another $2.50 if you want to keep it. Verizon's last only a year. Three bucks for a 30-second snippet that lasts a year—when you can buy the entire song online for $1 and own it forever? What am I missing here? How is a 30-second, time-limited excerpt worth three times as much as the full work forever? Does this not enter the heads of the people who are paying $5 billion a year?"

The last great digital rip-off? I agree that it's a rip-off, but the worst of all rip-offs? I'd put in a vote for a $10.99 DRM'd album download. But ringtones are different that downloads. People don't need 100 or 1,000 or 10,000 ringtone. They buy one at a time, so they aren't as price-sensitive as downloads. And access to ringtones is more limited than downloads. Ultimately, the price is a reflection of (a) what the market will bear and (b) available substitutes.

[music jobs] Director of Content at Dada Entertainment; New York, NY.