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
iRinger is a snappy little program, but last we checked it wasn’t compatible for Mac computers. Free ringtones for ALL!
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.”)
how do i get the ringtone on to the iphone????
@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.
@KLE: Are you not able to sync it to your iPhone? Do you have more than 8 ringtones on your iTunes library?
@Ji Kim: nope…
@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: 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
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! :[
i use iphoneringtonemaker. Costs a few bucks but saves me all these steps
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
That’s a great step by step, it has worked perfectly for me.
Thanks for having shared this with us !
Much obliged. Thank you.
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:
GarageBand is not included in Mac OS X, you have to get iLife, which you have to pay for. Nevertheless, it works.
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.
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.
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!!
I can’t find it on my phone…. maybe this isnt working on 2.2? iTunes shows it in my ringtones, it looks like it syncs…. but can’t find it on the phone with my other ringtones. What do i do?
This tutorial is not applicable for iTunes 8.
If you are using iTunes 8 or above, you may as well follow this link:
http://itunesm4ptomp3.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/create-free-iphone-ringtones-with-itunes8/
word Yo! thanks a million and a half for that! I flatly refused to re-purchase songs I already own as ring tones! now everyone’s getting their own ring tone! My lady is getting “F her gently” by Tenacious D, My mom is getting “Dear mama” by 2pac, and my brother is getting “Purple Haze” I’ll let you figure that one out!
Thanks Again!
thank you very much for detailed walkthrough. works like a charm for me.
awesome thanks so much
thank you so much for this walkthrough!!! it really works!
i have never bought a ringtone before. I thought i would have to when i got my iphone3g until i came across this tip.
thanks so much
Hooray Hooray……. I had trouble synching more than 2 songs …… could be seen through itunes as listed in iphone but did not appear on the phone until I changed all the names of songs – I just used initials………. has taken me about 3 hrs… but I’m happy now! Thanks for the walkthrough and hints……….
I can’t find my iPhone… anyone know where I left it??
i always use this iphone ringtone maker to create custom ringtones for my iphone 3g: http://www.softdiggs.com/iphone-ringtone-maker.php
the site also offers a way to make free ringtones for iphone using only itunes.
You may download this iPhone Ringtone Maker for a try, I know it can make your own iPhone ringtone from any music you love., my friends recommend it to me, it’s safe and works pretty well for me.
http://www.flash-video-soft.com/ringtone-maker/
Hope it helps.