Don’t you love paying for ringtones of songs you have already purchased? Yeah, me neither. That is why I have discovered multiple methods for creating free ringtones. Some methods are simpler than others, although some are more customizable too. Check this article out and find out for yourself what method is right for you!
1st method – iToner 2
This method includes software that is only available on the Mac called iToner 2. Although this software is $15, it is the simplest method I have found. The software has a free fully functional trial available for 30 days so check it out!
iToner is very simple to use. Just open it, drag a music file in the window, and hit sync. There are also options to trim the song or to sync an iTunes playlist to iToner so any song you drag in that playlist will be synced as a ringtone.
My most favorable feature in this program is its ability to sync full length songs as a ringtone as well as trimming to whatever length you want. If anyone uses there iPhones alarm clock to wake up in the morning, they know how annoying it can be to wake up to a 30 second music clip repeating over and over again!
2nd Method – GarageBand
Though this is not as simple as iToner, it comes with every mac. The trick to making ringtones in GarageBand is to keep the audio in the timeline less than 40 seconds. Heres How.
- Launch GarageBand and create a new project. The tempo, signature, and bpm settings don’t matter so much if your just dragging an audio file in to convert to a ringtone.
- Create a new track in the timeline. Unless your planning on writing your own ringtone with software instruments, Just click Real Instrument and click Create
- Search for the desired audio file on your computer and drag it into the previously made timeline. From here you can navigate to the menu bar and select Share>Send Ringtone to iTunes.
Note: If your audio file is more than 40 seconds long you will receive a message saying your song exceeds the 40 second time limit. From here you can click adjust and GarageBand will automatically place a cycle timeline on your track. To adjust this timeline, simply drag the ends of the yellow bar to the right and left. Remember, this track shows what part of the song is playing and has to be less than 40 seconds
- Once the cycle bar is set to less than 40 seconds and in the position you want your ringtone to start, you can again go to the menu bar and select Share>Send Ringtone to iTunes. This will convert the song, open iTunes and play a preview of the song for you. The next time you sync your iPhone, your ringtone will be on there.
note: If you want your ringtone to fade in and out, just adjust the track volume to fade in and out at the start and end of the cycle bar.
3rd Method – audiko.net
I’ll bet you thought I forgot about you iPhone users with Windows! Well here’s a web app that can be used for windows and mac through a web browser and is absolutely free and simple. audiko.net allows you to upload songs from your hard drive, trim the song with fade ins and fade outs, and download the ringtone. its a 3 step process and requires no tutorial. Also they have a library of pre made ringtones you can download for free.
4th Method - iTunes
Yes that’s right, you can create free ringtones just using iTunes although there are a series of steps to complete the ringtone making process. An earlier post details the steps in creating ringtones via iTunes.
These are just a few methods I have found handy while enjoying my free ringtones. How about you? Please submit your vote and tell us which method you like best.
(polls)
There is another method for Jailbreak users… The app is called Mytones and it is available in Cydia… Anyway, thanks for the other alternatives listed in this post!
Another method is an application from the internet you can download called iRinger…allows you to upload songs from your hard drive, trim the song with fade ins and fade outs among others things and download the ringtone directly to itunes.
I use iRinger too and it works great.
i like to use voice memo… email it to myself… change file name from.. drop to itunes… sync
there is another method that I use I found it on cnet and it involves itunes and making a copy of the song you wish to turn into a ringtone and then just setting a start and end time cut that out of the song and theres your ringtone, cnet offers a video walk through that makes it really easy
“free” is the most abused word ever!… count how many $ signs r in this article and win a prize….. shame on u
Only method 1 costs money for the actual software. You could argue method 2 costs money because it’s part of iLife and not free, but you are not paying to make ringtones here, iLife is well worth the money without ringtones. Methods 3 and 4 are completely free.
I don’t make ringtones anymore since you can find just about everything already made for free on audiko.net
Eh…you forgot the best and easiest…and cheapest (free!) method:
1) Pick a song from iTunes, right click and click on “Get Info”
Sync with your iPhone.
2) Go into options and set a start and end time. MAKE SURE IT IS MAX 30 SECONDS LONG!
3) Right click and hit “Create AAC version”
4) When it’s done, an AAC version will pop up in iTunes. Drag it onto your desktop.
5) Rename the extension from .m4a to .m4r
6) Drag back into iTunes…and whoala, it will be added into the Ringtones section.
7) Don’t forget to delete the 30 second .m4a version of the song AND to remove the start and end times from the original.
people….read the article…step 4 (iTunes) is this method!
Actually that is described in method 4. There was an earlier post describing the method and I just linked it. Thanks for the headsup though.
I use the free MakeiPhoneRingtone.app from Rogue Amoeba:
http://rogueamoeba.com/freebies/
Http://www.zedge.net has a free ringtone maker to create and upload your own to your iPhone
I also use Zedge.
There are a few other methods but it depends on how tech literate you are. You can always use your PC to make and edit your own tunes, you could even make your own from scratch.
Very interesting information! It was of great use to me. I found RingtoneSmash has a great review of Cellware ringtones.