How To Create Your Own Ringtone on an iPhone
- June 29, 2009
- 6,782 Views
Voice Over Artist
Sri Gordon
Music
Edison Music Corp
Writer
Nick Prueher
If you’re tired of the boring old ringtones on your iPhone but don’t want to shell out extra dough to buy a new one, here’s an easy way to make your own.
You Will Need
- The latest version of iTunes
- A computer
- An iPhone
- A song or audio file to make into a ringtone
This process will not work with DRM-protected songs – songs downloaded from the iTunes store before April 2009. Songs ripped from CDs or downloaded from other sources will work.
Step 1: Find your song
Open iTunes on your computer and find the song or audio file you want to convert into a ringtone. Pick something that you won’t mind hearing a lot, or be embarrassed to broadcast to strangers.
Step 2: Select the start and stop time
Determine the snippet of the song you want for your ringtone. On a PC, right-click on the file in your Library; on a Mac, control-click on the file. Go to Get Info, click on Options, and enter the Start Time and Stop Time for your ringtone. Hit OK to save.
Keep the duration under 30 seconds so that iTunes will recognize it as a ringtone.
Step 3: Create an AAC version
With the song still highlighted, click on the Advanced tab in iTunes and go to Create AAC Version. This will convert the file into an Advanced Audio Coding file for iTunes. The new AAC file will have the same name and appear below the original in your Music Library.
Step 4: Change the file
Select the AAC file in iTunes and drag it onto your desktop. Click on the name of the file on the desktop and change the extension from .m4a to .m4r. This will let iTunes know to read it as a ringtone.
If you’re using Windows and you don’t see the file extension on your desktop, go to Folder Options in Control Panel and click the View tab. Uncheck the box for “Hide extensions for known file types.”
Step 5: Delete the AAC file from iTunes
Back in iTunes, delete the AAC file you created, then right-click or control-click on the original song. Navigate back to Get Info and Options again and uncheck the Start and Stop Times to restore the original settings, so your song will play normally the next time you listen to it.
Step 6: Drag the renamed file to your Library
Drag your renamed file from the desktop to your iTunes Library. The new ringtone will now show up in the Ringtones folder with a bell icon in iTunes.
Step 7: Sync your iPhone
Sync your iPhone with iTunes and find the custom ringtone in your phone’s sound settings. Select it and get ready to wow your friends with your awesome new tune!
Rapper T-Pain’s record label claims he has sold more ringtones than any other artist – over 15 million and counting.
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Comments (10)
WOW this totally works!!!! This is so freaking cool!
over 2 years ago by friendlyfire
WOW i can't believe this actually works! this is amazing!
over 2 years ago by friendlyfire
I tried this a couple of times and couldn't get it to work. Is it compatible with iPhone OS 3.0? I have the most up to date version of itunes and it seems that itunes recognizes the the files as ringtones but does not move them to the iphone. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
over 2 years ago by Justin_Dugan
Did you make sure u changed the extention?
And if the Ringtone page didnt pop right up when u moved the file to ur library, just try clicking on the ringtone tab thing on the side and it should be there.
Good luck! :)
over 2 years ago by SquidyBob
Totally complicated-- much easier-- go to audiko.net and follow directions-- its about 3 easy to follow steps. works every time-- best of all free!
over 2 years ago by Philip_Mead
I tried this site and it looks like a great idea but.... it won't allow me to upload. I have an .aiff and go to upload and none of my songs are uploadable they are all grayed out. ?
I've looked on the site for a deeper explaination on what's uploadable and nothing seems to be explained.
over 2 years ago by CinemaSlam
I believe iTunes is wise to this and realizes it's losing money so any of the most recent versions of iTunes will nix this. I jumped through your hoops and when I go to copy the .m4r to iTunes nothing happens. I even tried dropping it directly into the ringtones icon/folder, the plus symbol shows up but nothing happens.
over 2 years ago by CinemaSlam
Awesome Video! I really like a song and i wanted it as my ringtone but i couldnt buy it. Im glad you made this vid.
over 2 years ago by SquidyBob
http://tinyurl.com/yzwf4ty is the easiest and most user friendly ringtone site i have found. You should check it out. Its pretty legit
over 2 years ago by katash
Cucusoft iPhone Ringtone Maker is an easy-to-use tool that can help you trim or clip audio from your favorite audio or video files, then convert it to iPhone Ringtone format. With this program, you can make your own iPhone ringtone from any music you love. The supported input source file formats include .mp3, .m4a, .wav, .wma, .avi, .flv (YouTube format), .mp4 (iPod video format), .wmv, MPEG, H.264/AVC, AVCHD, .mkv, .rm, .ra, .mov, DivX, XviD, 3GP, etc. http://iphone.ringtone-make.com/iphone-ringtone-maker-cucusoft.html
over 2 years ago by reiddy
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