Free Custom iPhone Ringtones Using Only iTunes
Written on August 07, 2008 by Jenny Kortina and 386 people have commented
Create free ringtones for your iPhone using only iTunes and songs you already have on your computer (This method only works with songs that are DRM free. To create ringtones using DRM protected songs please use this method). This method has been tested and works with iTunes 7.7.1 and iPhone 2.0.1 firmware.
To create custom ringtones using only iTunes:
- Right click on the song you are going to make into a ringer and select “Get Info.”
- Go to the options tab and go down to the “Start Time” and “Stop Time” check boxes. Check both boxes and input the time you want your ringer to start/stop. The ringer has to be 30 seconds or less. Click OK when you’re done.
- Right click on your newly “clipped” song and select “Convert Selection to AAC.” The song will be re-encoded using the start and stop times determined (If your menu item does not read “Convert Selection to AAC” and reads “Convert Slection to MP3″ (or some other format) please go to
iTunes > Preferences > Advanced > Importingand change the “Import Using” drop down menu to “AAC Encoder”). - After the song is done encoding navigate to your iTunes Music folder, locate your song, and drag it to your desktop. After the song is on your desktop go back to iTunes and delete the clipped version from you iTunes library (It won’t delete it from your desktop, it will only remove it from iTunes).
- Go back the song on your desktop and right click on your song and chose “Get info.” Go to the name and extension section and change the extension from .m4a to .m4r (or you can just change the extension right from your desktop)
- After the extension is changed simply double click on the file to add it to your iTunes library under the ringtones section. Sync your phone with iTunes and you’re done!
Remember to go back into iTunes and uncheck your custom start and stop times for the original version of your song.
Other Ringtone Posts
Here are a few other posts about creating ringtones for your iPhone that you might find interesting.
Dezo Dates on August 7th, 2008 at 11:01 am
ah, boogie
lvh on June 21st, 2009 at 9:37 pm
i have the newest iphone (came out june 19) and this didnt work for it.
Saad on June 22nd, 2009 at 3:41 am
Worked for me i.e. on my iPhone 3GS… :o) Thanks for the tip and excellent instructions.
Ron on June 23rd, 2009 at 11:21 am
Worked for me i.e. on my iPhone 3GS also.Thanks for the tip and excellent instructions, great to know i don’t have to settle for the installed ones.
Simon on June 26th, 2009 at 4:15 am
Using iTunes 8.2 with my iPhone 3GS this worked a treat, much better than the rubbish “free” converters out there.
Great guide :)
Matt on June 27th, 2009 at 10:40 am
I’ve got 32bg 3g(s) and iTunes 8.4 and I did it all up till changing it to m4r. when I right click I can’t change it
Jen on June 29th, 2009 at 6:54 am
This works on the iphone 3gs. Thanks heaps :)
renai on June 30th, 2009 at 7:04 am
i have done this, it is in my ringtones folder on itunes but when i go on my phone it is not in sounds… ?
Steve on June 30th, 2009 at 11:14 am
worked for me on my 3gs! im stoked on this! i hated paying for songs and ringtones!
bmoney on June 30th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
awesome, thanks for the info man. works great on my iphone 3gS – much appreciated!
bigg kilo on June 30th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
does this only work on mac , or can i do it with my pc ??
mk on June 30th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
did not work for 3gs…. old version… this is from 08 article
mk on June 30th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
I just did this at it works….
just change stuff in my comp… and it works
Adeel on August 7th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
This rocks. Thanks Jenny.
RaniLT – to change the extension on your desktop you will have to first configure Windows to show the file extention (it is hidden by default). To do this follow the instructions below:
1. Open My Computer
2. In the menu bar, choose Tools and then choose Folder Options
3. Click the View tab
4. Uncheck the box for “Hide extensions for known file types”
5. Click on “Apply to all folders”
6. Click OK to close window
Now you should see the file extension of every file. Simply right-click the file and choose rename to change the extension from m4a to m4r. Finally, follow the same instructions to hide the exetensions.
Hope this helps!
marissa on July 2nd, 2009 at 10:38 am
How do you change it to .m4a to .m4r . Once it is on my desktop I don’t see the option “get info”
je on July 2nd, 2009 at 2:09 pm
awesome! works great on iphone 3gs!
ken on July 2nd, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Go to the name and extension section and change the extension from .m4a to .m4r (or you can just change the extension right from your desktop)
how would i do this?
Hobbes Doo on August 7th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Cool method, though it seems a bit more work than just using GarageBand.
Jenny Kortina on August 7th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Believe it or not the process only takes a few minutes once you know what you’re doing.
RJToronto on August 7th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Brilliant tip!
To test it out, I just converted three tracks into ringtones in about 10 minutes.
Thanks, mate!
jodi on June 22nd, 2009 at 6:40 pm
how did you change the ext. when i right click “get info” doesn’t appear.
Jen on June 29th, 2009 at 6:58 am
you change the extension in windows explorer?
Jas_purdue on August 7th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
I realized this method a few weeks ago and it has been great making ringtones in a matter of few minutes without paying extra bucks. So far, I haven’t hit any constraints in terms of how long the ringtone can be or how many can we store on iphone 3g… A very useful application indeed.!
Harold on August 7th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
I’m surprised someone hasn’t written a simple program to do all that work for you. Wonder how long before Apple shuts that concept down. I smell a new version of iTunes coming out………….
Goobi on August 7th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Freakin awesome! My friend on Windows was having a hard time creating ringtones with crappy ringtone makers. Can you believe it? An iPhone ringtone maker outputs the file as an MP3. Geez. Anyway, thanks for this.
RaniLT on August 7th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
how do you change the extension on your desktop??
Jenny Kortina on August 7th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
@RaniLT just rename the file
lambreeee on August 7th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
how do you change the extension on your desktop from m4a to m4r on windows??
Adeel on August 7th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
This rocks. Thanks Jenny.
RaniLT – to change the extension on your desktop you will have to first configure Windows to show the file extention (it is hidden by default). To do this follow the instructions below:
1. Open My Computer
2. In the menu bar, choose Tools and then choose Folder Options
3. Click the View tab
4. Uncheck the box for “Hide extensions for known file types”
5. Click on “Apply to all folders”
6. Click OK to close window
Now you should see the file extension of every file. Simply right-click the file and choose rename to change the extension from m4a to m4r. Finally, follow the same instructions to hide the exetensions.
Hope this helps!
Panda on June 17th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Adeel, so helpful!
Jennifer on June 25th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Thank you. That is the step I was missing.
Jennifer
Nikki on June 30th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Just wondered if you can help, I am using windows XP and this might sound like a stupid statement to you, but you say to go into my computer – on my desktop I do not have ‘my computer’, I have ‘computer’ and when I go into this it has all the different folders, like my documents, pictures, things like this – then there is no tools option at the top, so I cannot use these steps – any chance you can help please?
MacShill (Chris McCaw) on August 7th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Apple will find a way to bleed money out of it. The words “free” and Apple don’t mix well together. ;-)
PC on August 7th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Thanks Adeel, the Windows adjustment works!
Rich Cassady on August 7th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
I am having trouble getting the file into the ringtones section. I got the m4r file name, but when I double click it, it just goes to my library, I can’t drag it over, and I can’t find how to get it to the ring tone section. Maybe I am just a tard, but please help.
Jennay on June 21st, 2009 at 10:22 am
I got all the way to where you put the ringtone on my desktop and when i right-click it, it doesnt have a “Get info” button? what should i do?!
I really want ringtones for my Phone!
Dan on July 2nd, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Were you able to get the ringtone into your iPhone and select it?
lok cheung on August 7th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
whenever you need the original file of any song in your iTunes, no need to locate it yourself in the itunes music folder. just drag the song from iTunes to the desktop, and the file will be copy to. the original file in the itunes music folder, nor the song in iTunes, will not be deleted or modified.
Earl Hickey on August 8th, 2008 at 7:22 am
No.12 – What percentage of the apps in the Apps Store are free? :)
Nick Gorbikoff on August 8th, 2008 at 7:34 am
#16 Earl Hickey
How many of those free apps are made by Apple?
And don’t tell me about preloaded apps that come with Leopard or iPhone – you paid for them when you paid for your computer & operating system and or $200 & 2yr contract. Not saying it didn’t worth it – just saying as far as money making apple is worse than MS. At least MS provides lot’s of extra free tools through technet or it’s Express/Student programs.
Tans on August 8th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Everything went as described up to getting the file on my desktop. However, when I did the right click on the file, there was no “Get Info” to click on in order to change the extension to m4a. I went into “properties” to attempt to change the extension was was told it was an invalid valid file and it would not change. What am I doing wrong? Please help. Thanks !!
Tans on August 8th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Everything went as described up to getting the file on my desktop. However, when I did the right click on the file, there was no “Get Info” to click on in order to change the extension to m4r. I went into “properties” to attempt to change the extension but was told it was an invalid file and it would not change. What am I doing wrong? Please help. Thanks !!
On my previous comment, it should have been m4r. Thanks
Bigtymer on August 8th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Why go through all this hassle when you can use iPhoneRingToneMaker or iToner. Such they cost a few bucks, but they sure save you a lot of time doing these 6 steps over and over
quehegan on August 8th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Was already posted on stopgeek.com on July 17
Tans on August 8th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
#11 Adeels suggestion did the trick. I was able to change the extension. Thank you. It works great !!!!!!!!!!
la_florecita on August 8th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
OH GOOD GOD, you have made my day!!! No lie. Thanks so much for this.
Steve on August 8th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
If you do this, and the file doesn’t show up in your Ringtones folder, it’s because you didn’t delete the original file you made. Delete it, then try moving the m4r file in, and it should work.
Harbinger on August 8th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Brilliant!!
Tyler on August 9th, 2008 at 1:21 am
Very nice tutorial, works flawlessly, thanks. Dugg!
Roland Brezina on August 9th, 2008 at 3:33 am
My iTunes 7.7.1 has an option on RMB called “Create Ringtone…”
kortina on August 9th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Best iphone tip ever. Thanks, Jenny.
angela Stephens on August 9th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Great tip. Thank you. If only I could get it to work on my iPhone. I think I’m having sound problems in general because even the default ringtones aren’t working.
Rich Cassady on August 9th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
This much better managed using Garage Band. Here is how.
http://lifehacker.com/software/how-to/create-custom-iphone-ringtones-the-free-and-apple-way-334073.php
Taryn on August 10th, 2008 at 5:51 am
this works flawlessly! awesome! thanks!
Adam Brown on August 10th, 2008 at 6:42 am
I’m able to do everything but the last step, that is geting the m4r file off the desktop and into my ringtones on itunes. What would cause this or what am i doing wrong?
lily on June 22nd, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Steve on August 8th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
“If you do this, and the file doesn’t show up in your Ringtones folder, it’s because you didn’t delete the original file you made. Delete it, then try moving the m4r file in, and it should work.”
I deleted the file from iTunes, then clicked on ringtones to open the ringtones playlist and dragged the file from the desktop into the ringtones folder and it worked for me. Yay!!
Steve on June 27th, 2009 at 10:15 am
I am also doing the same thing – iphone3gs – itunes8.2. I converted the file that I downloaded from itunes themselves, copied it to my desktop and converted it to .m4r. Tryed to double click on the file and it went into my music folder in itunes (and yes i deleted the original .mp4 file), then i tried to drag and drop it into the ringtones fold and that is not an option. I have to be doing something wrong considering there are others that can do it……..help please
Rich Cassady on August 10th, 2008 at 9:06 am
the easiest way, (other than using Garage Band 4, which does it automatically, is just finding your ringtone folder and copying the file in there.
Rich Cassady on August 10th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Now that we have mastered Ringtones, does anyone have an idea how to change the text message alerts? There are only 6 on the phone. 5 suck, and I am tired of the 6th one. I was hoping to find an alternative to Jailbreak.
David Zetter on August 10th, 2008 at 10:46 am
I did everything that rich Cassady did, but I still cannot get the file to copy to the ringtone section of iTunes. What gives?
Rich Cassady on August 10th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Are you using Garage band? That is the easiest way, providing you have version 4. If not, to get the song back, find your ringtone folder, and copy the newly made ringtone into it.
Dr Love on August 10th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
works like a charm. thanks for the tip.
Sequoia McCaw on August 11th, 2008 at 2:55 am
Apple just announces a $30 million dollar profit right off the bat from their applications store. The least they could do is give you free ringtones. And it looks like the applications developers is where the new goldmine has been found.
Jenny on August 11th, 2008 at 9:28 am
i can do everything except the last part i changed the
extention to .m4r on my desktop and i deleted the one
in itunes but when i double click the one on my desktop
it wont open in itunes
David Zetter on August 11th, 2008 at 9:41 am
I gave up since it did not work. I downloaded the iPhone RingToneMaker and used it for the trial (3 ringtones). It worked perfectly, so I paid $7.50 for the full version. This is a no brainer since the other way didn’t work. Just Google iPhone RingToneMaker. It is definitely worth $7.50.
Sean on August 11th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
While double clicking the file to change the name, I accidentally added the m4a file back into my library. Didn’t realize I had even done it. Had to delete the file again from my iTunes library for the ringtone to accept. Just posting for some of the last steppers in case they have done the same thing…
housewhitesp on August 12th, 2008 at 6:20 am
house dog frog go frog student
Alexa P on August 13th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Hi, i have followed all the step to putting the song onto the desktop and then i read the blog on how to go to my computer in order to change m4a. to m4r. however im using vista….. and i don’t have a menu with any sort of tools that could help me. How do i get around this on vista.
Thanks
Rich Cassady on August 13th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Its a lot easier than you think, just right click on the file and change the extension from m4a. to m4r, then put it in your ringtone folder. Do a search for ringtone to find the folder.
jawed on August 16th, 2008 at 6:38 am
hi thanks, everything worked except the part it even shows on my iphone’s rington section but it doesnt show the ringtone in iphone itself
Piyush on August 16th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
no comment
Rich Cassady on August 16th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Did you put the file in your ringtone folder?
jawed on August 17th, 2008 at 1:42 am
To: Rich Cassidy
yes i did still didnt work, but i found IphoneToneMaker for free from a website (with keygen) and it works perfect and is easier
WB on August 17th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Much better than paying apple more $$$$!
Jolie on August 19th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
I made 3 ringtones and synced phone but only see 2 on iphone even though I see all 3 in the ringtone folder on itunes. what am I doing wrong? Thanks for any help.
jane on August 20th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
i have 2 ringtones and tried to put them both on- but instead, my iphone just shows one of the songs twice. any ideas?
Ghetto Yoots on August 21st, 2008 at 9:52 am
This guy wrote a similar blog last year. He offers a lot of suggestions on how to get around certain problems not listed here. He covers doing the same stuff using Win and Mac computers. I’ve used his instructions quite a bunch and it works really good. I had some of the same problems that people are asking here. The suggestions he wrote solved my problems.
http://www.edzachary.com/2007/12/make-free-iphone-ringtones-using-itunes.html
renee on August 21st, 2008 at 4:53 pm
One thing to be careful of:
make sure that your iphone ringtone syncing is turned on in iTunes. it is not turned on by default.
josh on August 23rd, 2008 at 3:42 pm
where does the clip of the file get saved to?
Rich Cassady on August 23rd, 2008 at 4:02 pm
You put it in your ringtone folder, which is in your itunes music folder.
Wakko on August 23rd, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Thank you, this is pretty cool
M0ntY on August 23rd, 2008 at 10:21 pm
How do you make a “custom” sms text message alert on the iphone? Please throw a hint.
brian on August 24th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
when i make the aac file it makes the original file i made the ringtone from only play from a certain time and won’t let me play the whole song.. help!
Rich Cassady on August 24th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
There is no way that I know of that you can make a text message alert. Apple needs to get on that.
Rich Cassady on August 24th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
You have to remove the time restraints you put on when making the ringtone.
ang on August 25th, 2008 at 3:42 am
rich- im having the same problem. what do you mean “remove the time restraints when making the ringtone”?
Jolie on August 25th, 2008 at 4:37 am
Brian, remove the time restraints like this:
Uncheck your custom start and stop times for the original version of your song.
Klaus on August 25th, 2008 at 4:39 am
If you don’t want to make your own ringtones – have a look at RingtoneFeeder:
http://www.ringtonefeeder.com/
there is a free feed to try it out
Herb Real on August 25th, 2008 at 4:46 am
I like this method better since my garageband is the older version! Thanks!!!!
brisfish on August 25th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
For me at least i dont have to cut the track time down to 30 seconds, this way when you use a song for your alarm clock it will play the whole song…or most of it. As a ring tone it automatically only plays the first 30 seconds.
Thank you very much for this tip!
Rich Cassady on August 25th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
No phone that I know of will let a ring tone be more than 30 seconds. That is just wishful thinking.
aasdfghjkl on August 25th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
when i right-click on the song on my desktop (windows xp) it doesnt say
“get info” wat do i do??
Deepak singh on August 26th, 2008 at 5:25 am
iPhone
Shifter on August 27th, 2008 at 8:46 am
AMAZING! :-) This is just what I was looking for! Thanks to all commenters for continued troubleshooting, every time I hit a snag I just read further in the comments and everything works out perfectly. Thanks to all!!
Jeremy on August 30th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Once I’ve done all this, how do I make it my ringtone on my iPhone.
I know…I’m an idiot.
Rich Cassady on August 30th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
IF you want it to be for all ringtones, then you go to settings\Sounds\Ringtone. To make it for just one person, go to contact\Contact name\ringtone.
crazy toney on August 30th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Thanks for getting this info out! This is the process I use to make my free ringtones – http://www.crazytoney.com
Susan Hilton - Texas Aggie Realtor on September 1st, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I did GREAT until #6 – After the extension is changed simply double click on the file to add it to your iTunes library under the ringtones section. Sync your phone with iTunes and you’re done!
I double click and it plays the 30 second song but won’t let me add it to the ringtones section. I want to add it to my iPhone. HELP!
THANKS!!!!
crazy toney on September 1st, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Susan, I have noticed that sometimes I need to restart itunes and then double click on the .m4r
amber payne on September 1st, 2008 at 5:45 pm
it worked for me once, now itunes isn’t converting the time….it will only play for the length i tell it to, but it won’t convert it to 30 secs…just bought this thing…is it operator error?? pc’s were NOT this difficult!!
manda on September 2nd, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Holy crap! You are my new hero! Thank you!!!!!
Tiff on September 2nd, 2008 at 6:43 pm
how come it will only let me place 5 custom ringtones??
Rich Cassady on September 2nd, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Have you tried manually putting them in your ringtone folder?
Simon on September 4th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
It is not working on iTunes 7.7.1 and iPhone 2.0.2 firmware.
Jordan on September 6th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Rich Cassady i have the same problem as you i cant get the ringtones to show up in the ringtones section. have you figured it out yet how to make it work? Please help
Ady on September 6th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
It worked for me on iTunes 7.7.1 and iPhone 2.0.2 firmware. Thanx a bumch for a great tip.
Ady on September 6th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
It worked for me on iTunes 7.7.1 and iPhone 2.0.2 firmware. Thanx a bunch for a great tip.
Clewsy on September 6th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Just got i phone, ringtones were very bland, this is just what i was looking for, tried it 3 times and never had a problem, Thanks
homenightfre on September 6th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
deliver german clean water letter me australia glass england
Rich Cassady on September 7th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
I use Garage Band and it works without a hitch. It will automatically add the new ring tones to your ringtone folder. If you put one in that folder, and it does not show up. Do a search and make sure you don’t have 2 ringtone folders.
Altius on September 8th, 2008 at 11:47 am
just tested this in iTunes version 7.7.1 (latest as of Sep 8 2008) and this still works. Thanks a bunch :)
Guy on September 11th, 2008 at 5:52 am
Has anyone tested if it still works in the new itunes 8 ?
seawomanuniv on September 12th, 2008 at 9:38 am
greed red trust no house land dog this yahoo
JD on September 12th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
I just did this using the new iPhone Update 2.1 and iTunes 8….freaking sweet!!!!
reeeen on September 12th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
i have read every single comment made, even checked out edzachary’s site & i still can’t get it to open in itunes as a ringtone. for 3 days now i’ve tried & it goes back into my library as a 24 sec clip. i shortened the time frame from the original 30/restarted itunes/inserted the space before the extension/blah, blah – all of the tips and STILL NADA! WTF? Using itunes version 7.7.1.11 and the new 3G 8GB. anyone? please. i’m jealous of all the successful peeps. tear.
JD on September 12th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
update to the new iTunes and I can help u
Victoria Riley on September 12th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I’ve done all this. It’s showing up in my itunes as on my iphone, but it isn’t actually on my iphone (IYSWIM).
Any ideas ?
bdabbt75 on September 12th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
so, I have iPhone 2.1 and Itunes 8. Get it into the Itunes ringtone folder, download to my iPhone, but I can’t select it in any prefereces.
This sounds similar to a lot of people… anybody figure out how to make it work?
Victoria Riley on September 13th, 2008 at 2:06 am
Same here, iPhone 3G with software 2.1. iTunes is 8.0.0.35
When I go to sounds, ringtones there isn’t a custom folder.
But according to my iTunes the ringtones have synced with my phone.
Very strange.
I just want my tones back so I know it’s my phone :)
Stevie on September 13th, 2008 at 2:41 am
I had the same problem. Found out the answer at:
http://cybernetnews.com/2008/08/21/cybernotes-create-free-iphone-ringtones-using-itunes-in-windows/
Check it out in the comments.
Basically before importing the new m4r file to itunes, make sure it starts with a capital letter.
Victoria Riley on September 13th, 2008 at 2:53 am
I’ve just downloaded iRinger. It’s fantastic !! Really easy to use, you can choose very simply which part of the song to use. I’m a happy girl again :)
jordan on September 16th, 2008 at 1:07 am
Thanks so much, it’s pretty easy!
Satish on September 16th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Thanks a lot. its really kooooooooooooooooooooooooooool.
Memo on September 18th, 2008 at 1:54 am
Thanks Stevie (#95), that link solved it. My problem was not the filenam, though, but the file length. Apparently, ringtones cannot be over 40 seconds, and mine was 48.
It’s so disappointing that Apple won’t just let you use any mp3 file on your iphone, like you can on all other phones :-(
cody on September 18th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
I made ringtones when i had itunes 7 then when i updated to itunes 8 and firmware 2.1 they disappeared even though they are in the ringtones folder on itunes.. what gives?
cody on September 18th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
i forgot to click the notify me box
Rich Cassady on September 18th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Did you look in the folder to see if they are there? Did you have them backed up? If you have Time Machine, you can get them back in a snap.
cody on September 18th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
I actualyl got it to work another way. I right clicked on the ringtones in the ringtones folder went to explorer and reclicked them all to open them in itunes and deleted the old ones.. and sure enough it worked : D
fatpat1080 on September 18th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Will this void the warrnety on my iphone 3g
Rich Cassady on September 18th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
I am sure it will not, for starters, you can take them off at any time. if not, then your phone is trashed and they will never know. Not to mention the fact that Garage Band has a send to iPhone feature, so clearly Apple knows that people are sending tunes to their phones!
Randy on September 19th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Worked like a charm, thank you so much!!1!
~Randy
Judy Pokras on September 19th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Thanks for all these tips, and I tried some of them, but the file size of my 29 second ringtone (no matter which format I put it in) are over 400 kb and my AT&T Nokia phone will only accommodate 139 kb max.
Any suggestions for how I can reduce the size without losing any of the music?
ApiS on September 20th, 2008 at 9:18 am
This method doesn’t work with itunes 8. In your itunes ringtones it appears but when u connect ur iPhone to sync, the ringtones part of the iPhone does not show you the ringtones that you have in your library so you can sync it.
How do you do it with itunes 8?
c on September 22nd, 2008 at 12:46 am
if you looked a couple lines up youd find your answer. It worked for me by just going to the rintones folder and reclikcing them all again to open in itunes. then just delete the old ones.
Lazy on September 22nd, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Or you could skip all that and be lazy and get lots of cool ringtones from http://www.iphoneringtones.ca/ and lots of others!
jessica on September 22nd, 2008 at 7:39 pm
i have gotten everything except turning the file from m4a. to m4r. how the heck do i get it to change? i have windows and my only option is “properties”…help me thanks:)
c on September 23rd, 2008 at 1:02 am
its under tools in any explorer windown then go to folder options and check or uncheck the box that says view file extensions (you want to view them to change it). Then you just change it as if you were changed the name to the file.
dpell on September 24th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
nothin works with the new itunes8 i tried all suggestions and all methods post a way to do it once its figured out…
d.pell
dpell on September 24th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
HOLY CRAP i got it to work with the new itunes 8 all you have to do is click on your phone name in the left tab…_____IPHONE and when the page changes go to the ringtone tab. once there click the sync ringtones check box. select all ringtones or just the ones you like i dont know if it will erase the ones you have already. mine did. but after that it should just send the new ringtones in your “ringtone” folder into your iphone. you still have to do all the converting to the .mr4 and the other steps but it will finally add them to your phone
d.pell
lottie xoxo on September 26th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
hiya ive done it all and it shows up in my ringtone file both in itunes and when i plug my iphone in but i cant find it anywhere on myu acatul phone to be able to use it or set it as my ringtone. please help xoxox
Rich Cassady on September 26th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
First, make sure the file is in the your ringtone folder. If it is, go to settings\Sounds, to set your default sound. For a specific contact, go to the desired contact, then select ringtone. That;s it Lottie xoxoxo!
lottie xoxo on September 26th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
haha that makes me sound stupid! no ive done all that it is defo in the ringtone file when my iphone icon comes up in itunes so it shud be there but its just not appearing when i go into the settings>sounds bit and try and change the ringtone itself… gar xoxox
Rich Cassady on September 26th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
How did you create the file? like above? Or with Garage band? If you send me your email address, I can send you one I made, to make sure it works.
lottie xoxo on September 26th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
ermmmm thru the thing above cos i have windows! oh dear.. erm this is my really old email addy sparkling_little_me@hotmail.com thankssssssss man xoxoxoxo
T on September 28th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I have a 3G Iphone, and I have converted to “aac” and then moved to my desktop, changed the file extension to m4r from m4a, however I am not able to drag and drop to the “ringtones” folder in itunes, and when I “add file to library”, it just adds it to the music library and changes back to an “aac” file???
If it has anything to do with a “DRM-free” song, how do you know if the song is “DRM-free”
Ariane on September 29th, 2008 at 5:57 am
TO ALL ITUNES 8 users: http://www.audiko.com
It’s magic!!!
Ariane on September 29th, 2008 at 5:57 am
audiko.net, sorry
Chris on October 5th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Hello. Can someone say me, how i bring that ringtones (www.iphone-ringtones.ch) on my iPhone? thx
scott on October 7th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
IF YOU HAVE iTUNES 8 THEN YOU NEED TO CLICK ON YOUR PHONE AND CLICK ON THE TAB ON YOUR PHONES SUMMARY PAGE THAT SAYS “RINGTONES” AND MANNUALLY CHECK THE BOX THAT SAYS SYNC RINGTONES.
THIS HAS BEEN SAID LIKE THREE TIMES IN THIS DICCUSSION BOARD AND PEOPLE ARE NOT SEEEEEEEEEEEEEING IT.
omar on October 9th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
non
David on October 13th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
hey
David on October 14th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Okay, here is a new one.
I have 8.0.1 that just came out. I can do all the rest of the stuff if I could JUST CONVERT TO AAC!! Where it used to say that it now says “make ringtone” and will only work with purchased songs. I can only create things to MP3? Any Ideas?
Carla on October 15th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Hi I am having trouble with this because there is no ringtones section in my itunes except for in the summary of ringtones section how do i get it to go into ringtones?
mikehelp on October 19th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
WINDOWS VISTA SOLUTION!!!
For all you asking, how to change file extensions in vista…
Instead of going to my computer go to computer in the windows start menu. When there, just press the ALT key on the right of your keyboard. A hidden tab appears. There you just click tools. ETC…
Peter on October 21st, 2008 at 2:32 am
These instructions are AMAZING!! I’ve just created three of my own ringtones from some of my favourite tracks. I’m a real novice user and didn’t get all this the first time, so here are some tips for those having problems:
1. Make sure your itunes folder is viewed as list i.e. view -> list. it changes from having the album artwork to the list of songs.
2. To enable the AAC coder to make ringtones you need to do some adjusting as outlined on these steps in itunes: Edit -> Preferences -> Import Settings -> Import Using -> AAC Encoder -> OK (close that box)
3. Right click on a song, get info and follow the rest of the steps… Once you’ve chosen the length of time you want the file doubles in itunes – so you can see two of the same song. The difference is the length of the song. Take the short song and put it on your desktop, then right click and rename the file to .m4r – it asks you to confirm, click Ok.
4. From there, just drag and drop it into the ringtones file on your library. When the iphone syncs the song will come arcoss.
5. I also had problems getting the ringtones folder to begin with – like some other users. I can’t remember how I overcame this. I think I downloaded some free ringtones from itunes and it appeared or something…
BIG thank you to all the other users on here who answered seemingly dumb questions – took me some fiddling but finally worked it out. Hopefuly this helps a little more.
Pete
Matt on October 22nd, 2008 at 11:25 pm
WOO! There can’t be any symbols in the name of the ringtone. When I changed Octopus’s Garden to Octopus Garden, it appeared on the custom list on my iPhone. Thanks for that link to the other guide.
Scott on October 24th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
It didn’t work for me I did everything but when I put the mr4 file in itunes it just disappears. What are the exact steps after you change the file format and we are talking about the 3g right?
rockingh0rse on October 28th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Scott, its not .mr4 extension, its .m4r.
If this was just a typo on your part then did you remember to delete the short .aac version of your song before double-clicking on the .m4r file to add it back in to your itunes library?
Hannah on October 31st, 2008 at 1:37 pm
I’m using itunes 8 and I’ve taken all the steps, converted it into m4r but when I drag it back into my itunes, it just puts it back into music not into ringtones. Someone help!
Sylvz on November 1st, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Done everything… and everything’s fine…. juz tht the ringtone doesn’t appear in my iPhone… went to Settings>sounds>ringtone…. but my new ringtone is not there….
help pls?
sav on November 3rd, 2008 at 2:40 pm
how comes in my libary no ringtones folder appears?
JerryO on November 4th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Awesome THANK YOU!!!
Just 1 question – what do you do with the files on the desktop? If I delete, will they be deleted on the phone next time I synch?
Cuppycake on November 4th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Go to Myxertones.com!! its free and it does all the work for you!
VV on November 7th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I LOVE YOU THANK YOU
iengineer on November 13th, 2008 at 9:38 am
i just converted a song in 2 min… it’s the easier method
knifealterego on November 21st, 2008 at 5:51 pm
It’s in my folder ringtones in itunes. Synced twice. I can’t find it in my iphone. Did i miss anything?
Woodsy on November 22nd, 2008 at 11:23 am
Thanks! Only website i could find that was easy to follow!
J on November 24th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
this method doesn’t work with the new itunes 8.0.2.20 nor iphone 2.2. someone needs to find a new way around it
J on November 24th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
my bad. got it to work
Chey on November 29th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
okay so i got this ringtones thing 2 work for 1 song..but iv tried to add 2 more and it says there in my ringtone folder but there not there on my iphone..plz help!
Mike on November 30th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
use audacity (on PC- not sure about MAC) and create your 30 second snippets. You have the ability to fade in and out, cut and paste, amplify, etc.- much more flexibility that in iTunes. Simply export as MP3 (requires lame_enc.dll), import to iTunes, create AAC version, locate that file on your system and rename as m4r instead of m4a (m4r is iPhone ringtone filetype). Save ringtone on your system and import to iTunes for sync with your device.
Bliggity blam.
Mike on November 30th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
the above works (i just made 3 new ringtones) with iTunes 8.0.2.20 and iPhone 3g, 2.2 firmware, jailbroken.
Daly on November 30th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
if the ringtones are not showing on your iphone, crop the length down. I cant get 0.29 secs to display on my iphone, but 20 secs and lower do it fine.
Hope this helps
Mike on November 30th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Check it out:
http://mikekordell.com/Home/iPhoneStuff/tabid/1179/forumid/12/threadid/7/scope/posts/Default.aspx
James on November 30th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
OMG!!! I love you so much for this help. This is the best iPhone tip I’ve found…ever.
stephanie Barnes on December 3rd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
THANK you! : )
mark on December 3rd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
When i add to rington folder on i-tunes they show up but on my phone all the files are the same song for example on my itunes i have 5 diffrent ringtones whicch play perfectly on my itune on my computer(vista), but when i access my phone all 5 options will be the last song i created????
Mike on December 3rd, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Mark-
I’d be sure that your naming conventions are specific and you’re very sure about which files you’re creating/saving.
Aside from that, not real sure what might be going on there; possibly something with the OS.
Cheers
jeannine on December 6th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
this is great! thanks. worked perfectly, great instructions.
paid for jail on December 7th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Wow. I ignored a couple of friends and got the iphone. I use Linux because I like to own what I pay for. I moved from WIndows because I figured if they couldn’t make a secure OS, they could at least let people who pay for it have a little more control. Now that I own the iphone, I understand what true technoprison is! You have to be a special kind of control freak to prevent users from simply using ssh to deposit a ringtone. WTF is that? I am looking forward to when android gets ported, I will probably be a while. I have no idea why people are so down on Gates and MS about proprietary lockin. I have never run into a piece of software or hardware as crazy as apple. Iphone= my first and last apple product. I wonder if Jobs will require his eulogy to be loaded and played through itunes?
Iphon ringer on December 9th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
OK I have confirmed with I Tunes 8.0.2.20 it is possible to make a ringtone with ITunes only. The problem is the bits and pieces on how to do it is scattered on the web or posts so after hours of multiple forum research and since I beleive buying a song once is enough I will take the time to explain how I did this.
First, find the song you want in your I tunes library.
Secondly, format the file to ACC “AND MAKE SURE” when you set the time interval it is no longer than 29 seconds. This 29 seconds is what stopped me before consistently till I tried it and BAM, if you need instructions on how to make it 29 seconds and formatting it look here
http://www.intomobile.com/2008/10/07/iphone-ringtones-create-free-iphone-ringtones-using-itunes-8.html
once you have a 29 second m4a file change the extension to m4r, and import it to your ringtones and simply sync.
Another thing I did as someone suggested was shorten the song name “Not the file name” remember Itunes displays the name of the song from the “Get Info Tab” when you right click on a song. I called mine BBS for a short and easy name and it worked I maybe able to use longer names but I have not yet confirmed.
try this sorry if I am short of my explanation but as of Itunes 8.0.2.20 it is indeed possible to make ringtones so do not despair but the 29 second length seems of importance also and if you notice when you download working ringers from sites they are set at 29 seconds.
miguel on December 10th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
man.. this rocks.. :) thanks
this goes to my fav’s until i’m used to it.. but it’s quite simple
thanks again
Prasad on December 13th, 2008 at 2:55 am
You simply Rock..Thanks a ton
Haley on December 14th, 2008 at 11:26 am
i did everything and it shows as a ringtone on my itunes… and when i sync it to my iphone… it doesnt work. i cant use it and it isnt even in my ringtones. can anyone help me?
Lottie on December 14th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
hay. how do u stop this thing sending u emails all the time?
and also if u want a MUCH easier way just use this website
http://audiko.net/en.html
WAY LESS HASSLE
cool peace
xoxoxoxoxo
Gilbert on December 15th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Great tip. Exactly what I needed. Thanks again.
Jane on December 16th, 2008 at 2:36 am
Yes. It’s a fast and economic way to get personal ringtones for iPhone.
Howard on December 17th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Forgive my ignorance–How do I “right click” if I am working on a MacBook? I cannot get to step # 1.
ktb on December 19th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Haley: (#159)
I had the same problem. This is what I did to correct the problem.
Make sure “Name” , “Artist”, “Album Artist” and “Album” are not blank.
..Open iTunes
..Click on “Ringtones” in the library
..Right Click on the ringtone that will not properly copy to your iPhone.
..Click “Get Info”
..Click on the “Info” tab
..Make sure you have entered something in “Name” , “Artist”, “Album Artist” and “Album”
..Now re-sync ringtones to your iPhone
john Tez on December 20th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Muuuuuuuuchas gracias¡¡¡¡
Matt on December 21st, 2008 at 12:23 am
I had the same problem a couple people complained about, where I followed all the instructions, looked great in iTunes, enabled syncing of ringtones, but the ringtone was not available on my iPhone. You need to also change the name of your ringtone so that it’s not the same name as the song you copied from. Make sure the song name of the ringtone is totally unique in your library. Once I did that, it worked.
iTunes 8.0.2.20 and iPhone 3g firmware 2.2
Dave on December 21st, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Once you have that ‘Ringtones’ column, how do you actually set the ringtone onto the iphone? I used garageband so it is similar to this method.
Mally on December 22nd, 2008 at 7:19 am
I have done this method and have managed to convert 5 or 6 songs to my ringtone. But what I want to be able to do is convert a song to a text alert.
Does anyone know how and if this can be done?
Thanks
Oliver on December 22nd, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Once I get the song back into i tunes after converting it to m4r, it wont let me drop into the ringtone folder… how do i get it there….thanks!
Jon on December 23rd, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Thanks for the tip. Worked perfectly. I chose to create a ringtone folder that I cut and pasted the new clips into and then renamed. Any time I make a new ringtone, I just click file->add folder to library and then just select my rintone folder. I am using windows xp.
Jon on December 23rd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Mine also only worked if they were under 40 seconds. They will show in iTunes if longer, but not as options to sync with iPhone.
iz on December 24th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Here is the most recent step by step guide!
http://cybernetnews.com/2008/08/21/cybernotes-create-free-iphone-ringtones-using-itunes-in-windows/
mike on December 24th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
awesome method! it’s actually real quick once you do it a few times. it worked on my iphone v2.2 AND the new iTunes v8! thx.
jake on December 25th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
I had the problem of it said it was on my phone but when i went into phone settings it wasnt there.
To begin with i had a file with a length of 30 seconds exactly.
This did not work.
I tried again making the soun 29 seconds long and lo and behold i have a custom ringtone.
This was on iphone software 2.1 and itunes 8.
Thanks guys.
Ana on December 26th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I used this method successfully 3 times. The 4th time, instead of putting the ringtone I was trying to add on my iphone, it copied one of the ones I had previously added. I now have 2 copies of that one. But I can’t figure out how to delete it! Help, please?
Julez on December 27th, 2008 at 12:26 am
Will the original song still be there, or will it be permanently clipped??
gp on December 27th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Thanks much! This still works as of 12/27/08…apple will block as much as it can via patches, etc. but this relies on basic file-management tools in the OS so it should be good to go for the duration.
Krogdor on December 27th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Great, thanks for this tip. I use some theme music from the original Pokemon games for my ring tones and I’m pretty sure nothing like that is on iTunes, not that I’d want to buy it anyway… So I am very glad to see I can get new ring tones without paying for them ^^
Jeremy on December 28th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Is there a limit to how many “custom ringtones” itunes allow?
Ive created about 9 ringtones, but my iphone only will recognize 8 of the 9..
When I select my iphone, under the ringtones tab, that list is cut off at 8, and no way to scroll down.. so I TAKE IT, THERE IS A LIMIT?
Jack on December 29th, 2008 at 2:02 am
Aack! I just spent a half hour trying to figure out why my newly created ringtone wasn’t showing up in my iPhone. It ends up the the song title had a comma in it, and when I deleted the comma the song showed up in the custom ringtone list.
Something to watch out for! Has anyone found the same for other punctuation marks?
Ensane_User on December 29th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Thanks for this great way to convert songs into Iphone Ringtones.
abs_sba on January 3rd, 2009 at 9:22 am
I followed the above steps and have the ringtones on my jailbreaked iphone. But whenever I set the custom tunes, the phone goes to silent vibrate mode. Only vibrates (no sound) on incoming calls.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Royal.E on January 4th, 2009 at 1:02 am
Worked like a charm on v. 2.2.
Thanks!!!!
chris on January 4th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Worked very well-thank you! Yeah, make sure to delete the file before double clicking the new file extension.
fleur on January 6th, 2009 at 5:25 am
Just did it with itunes 8.2.20 with an iphone v 2.2
Took me a few goes to get it right, but it did work!
If you want to move the ringtones off your desktop… add them into itunes, then cut and paste them into a folder of your choice (that is easy to find!) then in itunes (when it says ‘file cannot be found’) relocate it to the new folder
:)
thanks everyone for the tips!
Alicia on January 8th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
what do i do if when i drag the ring tones into my iphone only one song shows up multiple times rather than the individual songs?
Eva on January 9th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Really thanks.
I have changed my iPhone ringtone successfully.
Yana on January 10th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Works with iTunes 8.0
Amy on January 11th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Everything worked perfectly until I tried use my custom ringtones on my phone. They show up under Custom ringtones and play when I select them. It even shows the ringtone name I selected as being my default ringtone, BUT whenever someone calls me it just plays a regular apple ringtone that came with the phone. I’m totally confused. Anyone else have this problem?
dr.gregory house on January 11th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
gahhh! i wont work!!!!!
Raymond on January 13th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
what about the original sang you first right click on does it make a clipped copy of that or what?
Frank on January 14th, 2009 at 2:35 am
I just tried the steps with iPhone 2G (1st gen), iTunes 8.0.2.20 and Vista. I got it working eventually and would like to share my mistakes, hope this info can help others who might encounter the same problems
1) I already have a song in AAC, thought that I could simply set the start and stop time on the Option property page and save. However, I had to explicitly create a new AAC version after setting the time values from the original AAC song.
2) I first clipped a song more than 30 seconds, which seemed not being recognized as a ringtone and couldn’t get sync’d to my iPhone. Looks like the clipped song needs to be less than 30 seconds (at least in my case)
3) I forgot to delete the clipped AAC version in iTunes before I dragged the .m4r file back to iTunes. With the clipped AAC present, the .m4r showed up properly on iTunes in the device, but it doesn’t appear as a custom ringtone on iPhone. Once the clipped AAC was deleted, the custom ringtone showed up properly.
Many thanks to the writer of this post!! And hope everyone can get it to work and enjoy your free custom ringtone!
Elliot on January 21st, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Brilliant, thanks.
Byron on January 22nd, 2009 at 4:20 pm
If you follow the directions exactly it works flawlessly.
This method still works with itunes 8 and v2.2 iphone software
Pure genius, thank-you, this just saved me from wasting my money.
Ged on January 22nd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
If you have done everything but it still won’t appear on your phone try changing the name to something simple like “mytone” in iTunes then resync… watch the bar at the top to make sure you see the file being synced with your phone… then go to sounds and look right at the top of the list under “Custom” ring tones :-)
tom on January 24th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
I have no ringtone folder in my library how do i get it any one help please?
tom on January 24th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
its the new version of itunes by the way!
Tim on January 25th, 2009 at 4:00 am
for those that still having trouble seeing your custom ringtones, i have a similar experience but finally solved it. As someone mentioned earlier, the ringtone’s name is actually very restrictive. Someone mentioned you can’t have special characters. I found out the hard way, after almost an hour of trying to follow the directions mentioned on this page to no avail, finally realized the name cannot be too long either. My original file “Somewhere only we know” was apparently too long, but “Somewhere” worked.
Alice on January 27th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
You should check out http://www.outerspaceringtones.com – you can just download the iphone ringtones free, without having to sign up for anything
sam on January 30th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
I did everything as you said. And it shows up on my ipod menu on my iphone. But how Do I actually get to set it as a ringtone? It isnt in my ringtones list or my sounds list????
Janet on February 1st, 2009 at 8:49 pm
It was such a hassle to make ringtones on the itunes store. This method is awesome and it only SOUNDS complicated. Once you do it you get the hang of it. Thanks sooo much, this rocks now i can have any ringtone i want! ;)
vishal s on February 2nd, 2009 at 9:44 am
It was such a hassle to make ringtones on the itunes store
Janet on February 2nd, 2009 at 8:58 pm
I made 2 ringtones yesterday with songs purchased from itunes now when i go to convert to AAC format i get a message that says that protected songs cannot be converted to another format what do i do? It worked yesterday and now it doesnt.
Junhee on February 5th, 2009 at 4:44 am
Thanks it works like charm!!!
jen on February 8th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
When I try to import my converted file, it goes to my music library in iTunes but not my ringtones. I can’t get it (drag it or copy it) into my ringtones at all!! Help?
Tav on February 11th, 2009 at 11:24 am
I made a free iphone ringtone, if you loved the 80’s you’ll love it, and who doesn’t love the 80’s? It’s the Texas Instrument speak and spell asking you to answer your phone… get it here: http://tavsfilms.blogspot.com/2009/02/speak-spell-ringtone.html
cash on February 13th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
I convert it and drag it to my ringtones section but when I go to my iphone section it doesnt show it as being listed as something that will be synced and when I sync it doesnt go to my phone. Fail.
pixelmeow on February 17th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Just a comment to say thank you for this! It works like a charm. :-)
mondotech on February 17th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Worked like a charm on second attempt. Set length to 29 seconds, renamed m4r, all letter filename 1st uppercase. Sync by checking “selected ringtones”. Ta Da!
TC on February 18th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
#164 ktb:
Thank you, that was the fix for me–there wasn’t anything in the “album artist” field. Fixed that, and I’m rockin’.
SZQ on February 21st, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Thank you!!!! I’m so excited!!Itunes 8 and works!!!!
iphone_man on February 21st, 2009 at 1:20 pm
try audiko.net and skip any problem with sync.
masterlymac on February 22nd, 2009 at 12:33 am
Free ringtones for your iPhone i.masterlymac.com/
Download a ringtone, play it in iTunes and sync iPhone with iTunes
wrecks on February 23rd, 2009 at 5:10 pm
If you want your own ring tones on any phone, easy as owning a mac.
1.
Import any song from your music list in iTunes into Garage Band.
2.
Select the bit you want to use, about 25 seconds.
3.
Edit by splitting the track, then delete the unwanted parts.
4.
Move the selected bit to the start of the track.
5.
Save as an an MP3 file under the “share” drop down.
6.
Export to the phone using blue tooth.
Send this info to other blogs if you find it useful.
Wrecks
iPhone on February 24th, 2009 at 4:08 am
Best iphone tip ever, I love this set man. Thanks
BBB on February 24th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Is there a way to repeat the created 30 second ringtone?
Adam 1.0 on February 26th, 2009 at 2:52 am
Make sure that;
* Clip is 30s or under (if you can get it to work with more then good luck to you)
* The file name starts with a capital and has no special characters in it
* That you double click it to put it into Itunes
* That the file info is relatively clear. No need to have albums/composers etc.. Wipe all these and give your ringtone a short name. Only you need to be able to distinguish between these so there’s no need to give all the information.
That’s how I managed to get mine to work. Before that they were showing up in iTunes but not syncing onto the phone.
Iphone app developer on March 3rd, 2009 at 6:33 am
Hi
Its the new version of itunes.
I have seen this kind of problem but nobodies gives perfect ans.
Chris on March 4th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Additional Steps to make this work.
After all this is done and it doesn’t work.
Go to the original file in the purchased media folder, right click the file, open in windows explorer, right click the 30 sec or shorter file, then change the format to .m4r. Drag it into the ringtones dir.
We totally need an APP for this.
GReg on March 4th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Can someone please tell me why I can only see 2 custom ring tones on my Iphone when I have 4 one there?
bullet91 on March 9th, 2009 at 7:37 am
221 th
http://choloblog.wordpress.com/
naputi05 on March 15th, 2009 at 2:33 am
how do you change the view folders in window’s vista?
Chase on March 16th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
THANK YOU!!!
Prem on March 16th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Why can’t the rington always stay in music section how could i move it to rington section.
KK on March 17th, 2009 at 5:05 am
Anyone can help: I just transformed a ringtone to a m4r file – it’s in my itunes under ringtones, but I somehow can sync it with my Iphone 3G!!!! Thx a lot…
DreaBabyy on March 17th, 2009 at 10:22 am
OMG! thank you soo much! this worked perfectly and is very easy! i have been trying to find a converter like this forever!
phoenix eka on March 21st, 2009 at 1:14 pm
This is awesome. You just saved me lot of money with this siple easy to use method of creating ringtones. thank you soo much! I have been trying to find a converter like this forever!
Nick on March 22nd, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Awesome, cheers! Works perfectly, saves me alot of effort, was just starting to get annoyed with the **cking aweful ringtone capabilities of the iphone..
Allstar on March 24th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Awesome… But i stucked at last step, i cannot convert the file for m4a to m4r by just changing the name… any else way to cange it ? by Converter?
jessica on March 25th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
whenever you need the original file of any song in your iTunes, no need to locate it yourself resimler in the itunes music folder. just drag the song from iTunes to the desktop, and the file will be copy to. the original file in the itunes music folder, nor the song in iTunes, will not be deleted or modified.
Tin on March 31st, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Hi,
This works like a charm! The only problem is I made two ringtones and when I synced it to my iphone ringtones only one of the songs shows up twice. Help?
Shelia on March 31st, 2009 at 5:32 pm
got IRinger and it was a breeze to get songs into ringtones and loaded
into Itunes. Synced them into my 3G IPhone. They are there. Only thing
is this…I selected songs for a few of my contacts and one for a default. I put in 6 songs all together. Used only 4. Whenever the
phone rings, the one song that isn’t checked as contact song or
default plays. So I turned off my phone. Turned it back on and resynced
again in Itunes. Even if they were still there in my IPhone ringtone
section. Still the same. When I had my husband call me… inside of
eartha kitt’s …where is my man…..i’m getting another song. it’s not
the dafault one picked either. Any suggestions?
Foxtrot on April 1st, 2009 at 2:37 pm
HEY!! I desperately need help, I did the whole step of dragging the new ringtone version to the desktop and I get lost from there. The instructions says to open up the desktop version and go to “get info” but I don’t have that option once I move the file fron itunes to the desktop. I am reallly lost so if anyone can break it down for me step by step I would greately appreciate it. Thanx
Robert on April 2nd, 2009 at 10:24 pm
AMAZING!!!!! Thanks so MUCH!!!!!!!!!!
Upgrayed on April 7th, 2009 at 10:41 am
kewl.. but how about going to “Audiko” instead.. you can make your Ringtones and download others for free there.. fun and REALLY easy to do.. no guessing where to start and stop your song.. simple easy and fast..
Chan on April 8th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
I managed to convert the track I wanted as a ringtone into a ringtone and it was added to my itunes ringtones section, BUT, it doesn’t allow me to transfer it to my iPhone.
Any tips
JD on April 10th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Thanks For the Info…Finally I can get Free Ringtones through ITunes but i Use Cydia mostly
http://www.Yourringtonespot.com
Mick on April 13th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Brilliant…thanks very much :)
Ana on April 14th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
OMGGG THANK YOU SOOOOO MUch!!!!
you dont even know how much hassle i had to find out how to download a ringtone to my iPhone!
your a life savor!!!!!
crysun on April 16th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
do you know this software the website: http://www.customiphoneringtone.com
it will be your best iphone rington
please belive me
MK on April 17th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Awesome!! It works. Thanks a lot!!!!!
Robert on April 17th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Where do I find the “newly clipped file”? Nothing happened when I clicked OK.
Thanks,
Robert
renaudrichardet on April 20th, 2009 at 6:12 am
thanks
ashley on April 21st, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Ok so I got my ringtone to work from itunes on my iPhone then noticed that when I receive a call I can’t hear the person talking, but they can hear me. My speakers for everything else works fine. Nothing is muted. I have restored the settings and changed ringtone to a factory setting and it works but as soon as I change the ringtone back to my song then I can’t hear anything again. Has anyone experienced this and how do I get a custom ringtone and still hear my calls?
ely on April 22nd, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Thanks a lot!!!!!!! :)
Jose on April 23rd, 2009 at 12:31 am
Good…..!!! it is working well.. Thanks
steve c on April 23rd, 2009 at 1:15 pm
everything works until i try to delete the ‘a’ to an ‘r’ it wont let me delete the ‘a’ on the mp4a please help
Eric Forrest on April 23rd, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Perhaps apple cofounder Steve Wozniak turned into a dog can help: http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit2?ns=1&video_id=nqM0B7UVQmY
Maxy on April 26th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
This way is cool but I prefer to use mobizaar.
I can make my own iphone ringtones with only a few clicks: http://mobizaar.com
Pascale on April 30th, 2009 at 4:02 am
Fantastic. It worked so big thank you!
Cheers
Pascale
melzie on May 2nd, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Awesome! Thanks!! Works perfectly. :)
Wagner on May 5th, 2009 at 11:42 am
It works with the iphone 2.2.1 and itunes 8…
great help.
thx
Rony on May 5th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
gracias
Jodie on May 8th, 2009 at 10:06 am
WHY HAVEN’T I GOT AN RINGTONES FOLDER!!!!!!!! ARGGGG???
HELP???
Harry on May 10th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
It worked for me just fine. Thanks a lot.
Tara on May 10th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Step 6 doesn’t work for me. The clip is on my desktop but when i double click nothing happens. :\
liseli kizlar on May 13th, 2009 at 11:12 am
I remember the 7 year hiatus Aoike Yasuko pulled off with Eroica, wich she’s still writing today. CLAMP’s Legal Drug is supposedly ending it’s relatively SHORT hiatus of, what, 3 years? Gawd knows how long Yami no Matsuei 12 has been on hiatus. Bustling mangakas with staffs or manga software tend to spit out no more than 4 manga a year, the rest have to do at least one
jeffrey on May 18th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
After making a ring tone, I went back under my library to play the song in it’s entirety but it would only play the 40 second portion. How can I change it to play the whole song again?
Thanks
watchoutforsnakes on May 21st, 2009 at 12:32 pm
i have the newest version of itunes and an iphone 3g and i followed the steps to the “t” and it worked great. i have vista and to change the extension default i went under “computer” then to “options” then “change folder settings” then “view” then i unchecked the “hide file extension” box. i don’t know what others are doing wrong but it ahs worked just perfect for me and being the cheapskate that i am i’m so excited to be making these ringtones for myself.
LoneWolf on May 22nd, 2009 at 11:19 am
Hey Jeffrey. This happens often. IT also happens when trying to make a power hour mix ;)
What you need to do is make a copy of the song and title it something else. Maybe add “ring” after the song title. Then upload it to itunes and use that file to change while leaving the normal one the same. That should work, however I have not even tried any of this yet. I only know that happened to me when trying to make a powerhour mix. I assume it’s the same
Fx trading on May 25th, 2009 at 12:43 am
This method seem not workinf on Itune version 8.
rob w on May 25th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
ATTENTION: to the people who cant get the m4r file to show up in the ringtones folder, it’s because the original song selected must have a bitrate of 192 or less (discovered this through trial and error)
masterlymac on May 28th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
itonez.net free iPhone ringtones
ososigma on May 28th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Great system, I did it in just 5 minutes.
Thanx a lot, save me a lot of bucks!!
kaitlyn on May 29th, 2009 at 8:54 am
to make this a whole lot easier, i use audiko.net and just download and save each ringtone and it saves to my ringtones folder on my itunes and sync’s to my iphone. just to put an idea out there for everyone
scott on May 30th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
how do you do it on a pc not a mac. it doesnt say get info when you right click it from the desktop.
manny on May 31st, 2009 at 4:00 am
on pc desktop
you go to properties not get info
Diablo on May 31st, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Thank you soooooooooo much! I could never figure out how to do this on my Iphone. You truly are a king among men! :) :) :)
Bravia on June 1st, 2009 at 5:21 am
I like this method better since my garageband is the older version!
RingtoneFeeder on June 13th, 2009 at 4:39 am
Did anyone try to download ringtones from iTunes (ie albums that are made as ringtones)? Seems like you need to pay twice – ie first buy the album and then to convert it to a ringtone – although if it is DRM free I suppose you can convert it in Garage Band – any suggestions?
Nick on June 14th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Wow thanks a lot…
olga on June 17th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
THANKS SO MUCH!!!!
Les on June 17th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
I was so use to using my Palm Centro phone. I decided to upgrade to an iPhone. It seems like I’m downgrading. The iPhone has you jump through to many hoops to do what was drag and drop on the Palm Centro. No video either! But at least there is a way to beat buying every ringtone. This solution you came up with works great. Thanks…..
thomas on June 18th, 2009 at 5:59 am
hi i have iphone and i want to put in ringtones but i can do it can some one tel me how to do that
Lucy on June 18th, 2009 at 11:42 am
I found that even when i changed the file extension, when i doubled clicked to open the file it was still a ’song’ and not a ringtone??? Any ideas why?
Jenn on June 18th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
I can get the single ringtone to my iphone 3g, but when I try to add a 2nd custom ringtone, it replaces the first one and I have 2 ringtones of the exact same song (even though in itunes it shows each song individually).
So, for instance.
First I convert and create “ringtone 1″ put into ringtone folder and sync with iphone so ON my iphone 3g, I have 1 custom ringtone, called “ringtone 1″
then, I convert and create “ringtone 2″ and put into ringtone folder and sync with iphone. This is where the problem starts … “ringtone 2″ is now listed TWICE on my iphone and “ringtone 1″ is no longer there, though in iTunes it shows each ringtone in my ringtone folder.
Anyone have any ideas? I’d love to have more individualized ringtones for some of my contacts but at this rate, I have 1 generic custom ringtone since I can’t get it (my phone) to recongnize more than 1 custom ringtone at a time.
Charlie on June 18th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Was a bit fiddly, but worked once I got the hang of it. I had to go to the control panel (vista) to change the “hide extensions” box. Thanks for all the tips!!
Jenn on June 18th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Well, I figured out my issue and now have 2 custom ringtones on my phone (am going to try to make some more in a few, but wanted to update my problem/solution)..
I went through my music list in my itunes music library and made sure to delete any of the short sound clips I’d used to make into my ringtones. I did that and then moved the 2, renamed music files into my ringtones library and wah-la – they both show up.
whoopeee!
Janice on June 19th, 2009 at 10:47 am
I need to update my i tunes to the new 8.2 version to get the new update on my iphone. I know how to create ringtones through my i tunes now, thanks to you guys. Question – I read somewhere the new 8.2 version does not let you create these ringtones. Does anyone know about the 8.2 version and creating ringtones? Thanks
Jenn on June 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Janice
I used iTunes 8.2 and the iPhone 3.0 update and created 2 ringtones using the instructions above. I did have one issue (posted earlier above) but then posted my fix for that problem.
HTH
Dave T on June 19th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
I have just got my I phone 3g and I tunes 8.2 and no matter what I do I just can’t get the ringtone into the ringtones folder, it will only go into the music folder. Reading on I tunes it does say that to create a ringtone from a song with a bell cannot be done in the UK, does this extend to this method as well. Someone please help before I go crazy.
geno on June 19th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
dave, i had the same problem and it was driving me nuts. once you put it back into itunes and it goes in the music folder delete it but remember to keep the file. then go to the ringtones page and drag it in there. that worked for me.
joel on June 20th, 2009 at 6:10 am
how do i change the extension on vista??
jan on June 20th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Joel, rename the extension, once it’s visible:
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/a0b4607a-6fa8-42ab-aef6-7418183389da1033.mspx
jay on June 20th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Just got the new iphone (3Gs) and tried the above. Got the ringtone to show up in the “ringtone” section in itunes but it wouldn’t sync to the iphone…any suggestions?
Matt on June 20th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
I just got the iPhone 3Gs too and can’t get the ringtone to show up in the Ringtone menu in Sound Settings. I think Apple disabled it in the new software.
Christina on June 20th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
I am so frurstrated, every song I clip just turns out blank in my ringtones folder!! any advice??
pluto6 on June 20th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
OK -
After messing around for a while – For those of you having trouble getting the new file into the ringtone area – iTunes adds the .m4a extension to your renamed .m4r file – example : Ringtone.m4r imports to iTunes as Ringtone.m4r.m4a – so you need to use an aftermarket program that will let you change the “type” of program from m4a to m4r – then the file will actually show up as a ringtone, and you can easily drag and drop to the ringtone folder.
You might also notice that your renamed “Ringtone” still maintains the old real name of the song – that is because renaming the file does not change the embedded ID tags – you need a program that will let you into those tags if you want to actually change the name, but there are many excellent free ones out there. Good Luck to everyone.
Dan on June 22nd, 2009 at 7:44 pm
You actually don’t need any special program to change the type of program… you just need to change a setting under My Computer – Under folder options > view, uncheck the box that says “hide file extension” – then it will show the .m4a along with the name, and allow you to replace that with .m4r…. simple as that.
This is a REALLY awesome tip! wish I knew before I bought a ringtone maker program.
pluto6 on June 22nd, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Dan –
And to think that I consider myself a relative “power user”. I have got so used to using another Explorer Program that I don’t even bother with the problems associated with Windows Explorer – but, I went ahead and unchecked the box that “protects” me. I had read your comment above, and was thinking “of course that needs to be done”, and had never done it myself.
pluto6 on June 20th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
An excellent program to get really precise timing for starting / stopping of the ringtone is called Audacity available at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ . I import the songs, and then can get the ring tone to start and stop down to about the millisecond. It takes a bit of fiddling, but the program is pretty intuitive. I only use a fraction of the programs potential, as I only use it to get exact sections of songs that I want, but it works great for that. Sorry that this is off topic, but the use of the start / stop times in itunes is really imprecise, and the result sounds like it.
Humble on June 21st, 2009 at 3:48 pm
HEY GUYS IM HAVIN PROBLEMS WITH STEP #3. WHENEVER I RIGHT-CLICK, THERE IS NO SUCH OPTION AS CONVERT TO AAC !!! PLEASE HELP. EVEN WHEN I GO TO ITUNES, PREFERENCES N THEN ADVANCED, THERE IS NO SUCH OPTION AS AAC ENCORDER….
H E L P HE LP PLEASE..!!!!
rubberymess on June 21st, 2009 at 4:13 pm
awesome thanks again, seems like everytime u do an update they take ya ringtones off ya.
pluto6 on June 21st, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Humble -
When you go into iTunes Preferences – on the first tab – “General” there is a button about 1/2 way down on the right – “Import Settings”. Click on that, and then select the AAC option, and do whatever sound quality that you want. Once you do that, you should see a “Create AAC Version” once you right click on the song. I suspect that you are seeing a “Create MP3 version” when you right click now. Hope this helps, and good luck.
Amit Pbx on June 22nd, 2009 at 8:29 am
Great stuff!
Works wonderful for me
Many thanks
SAL on June 22nd, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Hi,
This is brill, its the only thing missing from the iphone. I have a slight problem & need help.
Ive done everything & sync my phone, but how do I now set it as a ringtone? I cant find it on my phone.
Many thanks
Sal
pluto6 on June 22nd, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Sal – Confirm that you actually have your ringtones – they will show up in the ringtones folder on the iTunes window. Assuming you have those, just go into Settings, then Sounds – and you will see a button there for ringtones. They will all be there in the Custom Area (above the Standard). Many people are having problems actually getting the ringtones into iTunes – read the thread, and you will see how it is done for either PC and/or Mac. Good Luck.
Hankintosh on June 22nd, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Confirmed to work with iTunes 8 and iPhone 3.0.
HelperGnome on June 23rd, 2009 at 4:05 am
You may need to restore it. It worked on mine until I installed a carrier update.
After restoring it, it should work.
Done on a 3GS.
SAL on June 23rd, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Hi Pluto6,
Many thanks for the reply. I have got them in my itunes ringtone folder. It all worked a treat up to that point. I did a sync & it finished, but it doesnt seem to be on my phone. When I go into my ringtones, as instructed, which is what I tried to do last night, I only have the crap preset Itunes ones, I dont have a custom area at the top. It just starts with all the itunes preset & it isnt in there anywhere either.
Any help would be appreciated, as this would be brilliant if I could have my ringtones
Sal
SAL on June 23rd, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Many thanks, ive cracked it & it works. It was a setting to do with the sync itself, took some finding but well worth it! I have Iphone 3g latest software on phone & itunes
Greg on June 24th, 2009 at 12:48 am
I just bought the iphone 3GS and using itune 8.2.0.23 and was able to successfully create the ringtone into the ringtone folder and successfully sync to the iphone but it the ringtone created does not show up in the setting>sound>ringtone.. tried shortening tone to less than 20 sec to no joy, anybody have an idea what coud have gone wrong or provide a workaround? Thanks..
pluto6 on June 28th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Greg -
Sounds like what Sal above had going on. You also need to make sure that you are synching ringtones in your iTunes. I don’t recall the settings, but if the ringtones are showing up in your iTunes Ringtone folder, they should be able to be moved to the phone. There is an issue with the synch…
Rogue on June 24th, 2009 at 11:04 am
I got the ringtones to hit the “ringtones” section in itunes but they aren’t going to my iphone. Any ideas?
James Laws on June 25th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Everything works but my ringtones don’t show in the iphone. Even when plugged in it shows under my iPhone ringtone grayed out but not on the phone itself.
Any solutions?
Walter on June 26th, 2009 at 1:45 am
Very, very cool. I have a new iPhone 3G, latest iTunes and firmware, and this worked like a charm.
Simon on June 26th, 2009 at 4:24 am
iTunes 8 and 3GS, got it working in the end. took 2 tries to do as i’m not familiar with iTunes, but got there in the end, 1st time i’d not found the new shortened .m4a file.
Manually sync’d to iPhone after dragging/dropping from my desktop (using XP).
Great guide :)
mike on June 27th, 2009 at 12:08 am
i did the drag and click think and wheni right clicked the song on the desktop there was no get info button.
akrillz on June 27th, 2009 at 10:08 am
i right click on tha song n it dont say get info
imran on June 28th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
kooooooool. this iz awsome..
Traci on June 29th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Wow! This is so great! Thanks to whoever figured this out.
Aaron Murphy on June 29th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Totally awesome mate, thanks!!!
ls1544 on July 1st, 2009 at 8:38 am
I can’t delete the file and it does not load on my ringtones in itunes.
puppermom on July 1st, 2009 at 5:53 pm
I had the same problem of it not moving into my ringtone folder, so I deleted it. Now the original song is deleted from my music AND the shortened version is not a ringtone !!! What am I doing wrong?????
Jason Ezzell on July 2nd, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Works fine on the 3GS, to those of you having problems, make sure the “Sync Ringtones” box is checked.