News.com reports that Verizon Wireless is offering custom ringback tones to their customers in Southern California. So, rather than hearing the familiar tone of a call ringing through to the number you dialed, you can hear a tune of the dialed party’s choosing. Depending on how you look at this, it is either a fun new feature, or really irritating. The irritation factor is based entirely on the musical tastes of the person being called I guess. Of course, it is only a matter of time before this technology is used to blast the caller with some sort of marketing message before the first ring.