Seems like phones regressed in this regard. I remember a few generations back (maybe BlackJack II days) you could easily set custom tones for different people...now you need third party apps to do it. I stopped caring.
yep like devious101 said GoSMS is a great txt app, Ive silenced all my default messaging app notifications sounds and popups and use GoSMS as my primary... Plus it allows me to send multiple pics as picmail which I absolutely think should have also been included in the default messaging app