The Best Music Cell Phones on the Market

A reader asks: I'm interested in buying a cell phone that can play MP3s, but which one is the best?

Well reader, how about I give you a bunch of 'em, separated out for each of the four big national carriers? This way you won't have to break your contract to pick up an MP3-playing phone. (All prices are from the carriers, with contract. Unlocked or contract-free phones will be more expensive.)

Cingular - The Sony Ericsson W810i has cleaned up most of the faults of the earlier "Walkman phones," and at $150 it's my top music-playing pick for Cingular. The Motorola SLVR L7 (also $150) is a good second choice, as its iTunes software is easier to use and the phone is a bit slimmer and lighter. However, it's hampered by an annoying limit of 100 songs.

Verizon Wireless - Two LGs are your best bet here: The phone known as "The V" (aka VX9800) ($200), which is a large clamshell handset that opens up to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard and large speakers, is my favorite music phone on Verizon. After that you're stuck with the LG Chocolate ($150), which my earlier coverage has shown has legions of fans but is half-baked, navigationally speaking.

Sprint - Hands down I like the LG Fusic ($150, pictured) best, a very sophisticated clamshell phone that even has Sprint TV incorporated. If you want to spend a bit less, the Samsung A900M ($100) is more RAZR-like but has thoughtful media controls that work fairly well, also.

T-Mobile - At $300, getting the T-Mobile Sidekick 3 just to play MP3s is probably not financially smart, but it's the best overall handset T-Mobile has going. After that, the T-Mobile SDA ($150) is also worth a look, but other carriers have more capable music phones.