How to Create Free Custom Ringtones For Your iPhone
Author: Ji Kim | Posted under: How-TosTags: free, how-tos, iphone, itunes, ringtones
NOTE: This method only works with songs that are DRM free. To strip the DRM off the songs, please follow this guide.
As you all know by now, iPhone ringtones are available from the iTunes Store for 99 cents a pop.
But what if you want to hear Kanye’s “Gold Digger” whenever your ex-gf calls, and she left you with no money to buy it?
Do not fear, AppleiPhoneApps.com is here — just follow these steps to show that money-grubber who’s boss, and do it for free:
1. Pick the song you want to use from your iTunes Library
2. Right click on the song name and select “Get Info”
3. Proceed to the “Options” tab and check the boxes for “Start Time” and “Stop Time”
4. Figure out which section of the song you’d like to use as the ringtone. Then enter the appropriate starting and ending time for it. Click OK when done
NOTE: An iPhone ringtone can be up to 40 seconds in length.
5. Once you are back on the iTunes Library screen, right click on the song again and select “Convert Selection to AAC.” This will re-encode the selected portion of the song.
NOTE: If you can’t find the “Convert Selection to AAC” menu, go to your PREFERENCS — ADVANCED — IMPORTING and select “AAC Encoder” under the “Import Using” drop down menu.
6. Once conversion is complete, you should see a 2nd instance of the song much shorter in length
7. To avoid clutter, it is recommended that you delete the newly converted song from your iTunes Library. To do this, simply right click on the new song, select “Delete”, confirm removal but be sure to “Keep File” instead of moving it to the recycle bin.
8. The last thing that we need to do now is to locate your newly created song in your iTunes Music folder and rename the file extension to a ringtone format.
8a. On a Mac, simply right click on the file and select “Get info.” Go to the “Name & Extension” tab and rename the extension from .m4a to .m4r
8b. On a PC, navigate to your iTunes Music folder using the command prompt and issue the “rename” command.
If you are not familiar with the command prompt, there is an easier way to do this. Double click on My Computer, go to TOOLS — FOLDER OPTIONS. Select the “View” tab, uncheck the box where it says “Hide extensions for known file types” and press OK.
Now when you go back to the file, you will see the .m4a extension as part of the filename. Just go ahead and rename this last bit to .m4r
9. Double click the renamed file and it should automatically add the ringtone to your iTunes Library.
Well there you go folks. Your ex takes money from you while AppleiPhoneApps.com helps you keep it.
If that isn’t true love, we don’t know what is.
or you could just download iringer and it does all that in one click
alex on August 8th, 2008 at 9:06 am
iRinger is a snappy little program, but last we checked it wasn’t compatible for Mac computers. Free ringtones for ALL!
Andrew Robinowitz on August 8th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Huh? Step #7 should not come before step #8. Why remove the song from the iTunes library, and *then* go searching for it by digging through various folders?
While the song is *still* in iTunes, hit Command-R (on the Mac; not sure of the Windows command), and you’re taken directly to the file in the Finder! Finish the process, then go back and do step #7 after you’re done.
(The windows version of the command to which I referred actually appears in your screen shot for step #2. It’s “Show in Windows Explorer.”)
mark on August 8th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
how do i get the ringtone on to the iphone????
KLE on August 8th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
@mark: You are right. It makes more sense to switch step #7 and #8 as it will be easier to locate the file. It’s not a huge deal but makes the process smoother. Thanks for that.
Ji Kim on August 8th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
@KLE: Are you not able to sync it to your iPhone? Do you have more than 8 ringtones on your iTunes library?
Ji Kim on August 8th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
@Ji Kim: nope…
KLE on August 8th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
@KLE: I forgot to mention this method only works on songs that are DRM free. If you are using a song that was purchased via iTunes, those songs are DRM protected. You can either try the same method on a DRM free song or visit the following link to strip the DRM off your song(s).
http://itunesm4ptomp3.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/how-to-convert-itunes-m4p-to-mp3-with-tuneclone/
Ji Kim on August 8th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
@ Ji Kim: its not a song purchesed off iTunes. i did the whole process…i just dont know how to get the Ringtone in the Ringtone menu on da iphone
kle on August 8th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
[...] How to Create Free Custom Ringtones For Your iPhone NOTE: This method only works with songs that are DRM free. To strip the DRM off the songs, please follow this guide. As you all know by now, iPhone ringtones are available from the iTunes Store for 99 cents a pop. But what if you want to hear Kanye’s “Gold Digger” whenever your ex-gf calls, […] Bookmark iFones!SubscribeBlinklistDiggdel.icio.usFacebookNewsVineRedditStumbleUpon [...]
Apple 3G iPhone - How to Create Free Custom Ringtones For Your iPhone | iFones.com Apple iPhone 3G iPhone News on August 8th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
i created the ringtone files, and added them to my itunes, but they only show up in the music section, not in the Ringtone section… They are .m4r files too.. but I can’t move them into the specified Ringtone folder for the iphone! :[
jennt on August 10th, 2008 at 1:40 am
i use iphoneringtonemaker. Costs a few bucks but saves me all these steps
papi on August 10th, 2008 at 4:57 am
I also can’t find it on my phone…. maybe this isnt working on 2.0? iTunes shows it in my ringtones, it looks like it syncs…. but can’t find it on the phone with my other ringtones
Billie on August 10th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
That’s a great step by step, it has worked perfectly for me.
Thanks for having shared this with us !
Sébastien on August 12th, 2008 at 1:28 am
Much obliged. Thank you.
Daniel on August 13th, 2008 at 9:07 am
if you have a mac then you don’t need any of this. i have made all my ringtones with garageband. any song i like drm or not.
elwoodwins77 on August 15th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
[...] via [AppleiPhoneApps] [...]
Altra Guida Per Creare Suonerie Per Apple iPhone - 3 sul Blog - Tech, Fun e Web 2.0 on August 16th, 2008 at 1:01 am
You could also just use GarageBand. Import the song (DRM free) into GarageBand, do all your edits, including adding loops or effects, then click on “Send Ringtone to iTunes” from the Share menu. Much more functionality, and end result is the same.
Dan on September 17th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
great job on explaining this, it works and will save me a ton, I only want a few songs buy my son will convert many, thanks, keep it coming.
bigal on November 7th, 2008 at 8:00 am
I got this info from another site but I have one problem, when I add more than one ringtone it only shows the last uploaded rintone twice and not my previous ringtones. Help!!
RaShawn Greenwood on November 18th, 2008 at 5:27 am