Patent ID: 6999752

Claim:
A portable telephone having a music playback device for reproducing a melody that is stored in advance, comprising: a first storage, external to the music playback device, for storing a plurality of music data representing of a plurality of musical tunes; a second storage, installed in the music playback device, for storing a part of the music data representing a single musical tune to be reproduced; a musical tone generator, installed in the music playback device, for generating musical tone signals based on the music data input thereto; a monitor, installed in the music playback device for monitoring a vacant area of the second storage and for issuing a music data transfer request when the vacant area matches a prescribed size; and a control device, external to the music playback device, for selecting single music data from among the plurality of music data in accordance with prescribed rules prior to melody playback, in which a part of the selected music data counted from its top portion is transferred from the first storage to the second storage in advance, and in which upon receipt of the music data transfer request from the monitor during the melody playback, a following part of the music data is read from the first storage and is transferred to the second storage, wherein when the musical tune presently specified for playback matches the musical tone previously written in the second storage, the control device proceeds to the melody playback based on the music data stored in the second storage, and when the musical tune presently specified for playback does not match the musical tune previously written in the second storage, the control device transfers a part of the presently specified musical tune counted from its top portion from the first storage to the second storage and then proceeds to the melody playback.