I *know* there's an American provider that already introduced this service. Which o­ne was it? Someone let us know.

Anyway, Japanese provider au will be introducing a service called "EZ Mochi Uta," which allows users to change the ringers that will play when their call is received o­n another phone. For example, when calling Johnny, Billy can specify that he wants Johnny to hear the theme from CHiPS.

KDDI and Okinawa Cellular will offer the "EZ Mochi Uta" service (roughly translates as "EZ Carry Song") o­n February 1st, which allows ringers to be changed o­n au handsets when they are called.

"EZ Mochi Uta" is a service that allows users to set the ringer of the opposite party to a specific music or sound when they were to call them. Both au and NTT DoCoMo users can hear this specified ringer. Songs will be offered by contents providers (CP), and there will be around 1,000 when the service launches; roughly 5,000 songs are to be available before the end of 2005.

A maximum of 20 songs can be set. Each of the EZ@mail, EZwebmulti, and EZ WIN courses are supported. Also, a service called the "Mochi Uta Information Notification Service" will be offered, allowing the user who hears the ringer to call 090-4444-1460, and a C-Mail containing the song information will be sent back to them.

Service providers scheduled to offer contents are Music CO JP, Label Mobile, Avex Networks, Dowango, NEC, Fandango, MVP, and so forth.

Using the service requires users to begin the add-on service application at either an au Shop or from EZweb. It can be accessed from "Payment/Application/Info" > "Apply" > "Network Optional Service Change" o­n the public menu. The monthly usage cost is 105 yen, and the cost for choosing a song from each contents provider will be around 30 - 100 yen per song. From February until April 2005, though, there will be no monthly usage charges.

NTT DoCoMo has offered the "Melody Call" service since 2003 allowing users to specify ringers. This "EZ Mochi Uta," though, isn't just for within au; it also supports calls initiated from DoCoMo phones to au phones. o­n the other hand, Melody Call was o­nly within DoCoMo; but with the offering ot "EZ Mochi Uta," calls initiated from au handsets will also be supported.



Inspired by:
http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/article/news_toppage/21932.html

Press Release:
http://www.kddi.com/corporate/news_release/2004/1220a/