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How to Create Free Custom Ringtones For Your iPhone

by Ji Kim
August 8, 2008
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.
Keep File
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.
Hide Extensions
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.
Hide Extensions
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.

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