You can create free iPhone ringtones using Garage Band in Mac or Audacity in Windows. You may also consider the shareware to import ringtones to iPhone quickly. But, these seems still too complicated for users.
CNET found the way to create the ringtone using only the iTunes 8. No need to install anything. The trick is to use “Start Time” and “Stop Time”. Convert it to AAC, and change the file extension. Import in the iTunes again and it will work. Sync the iPhone and you will be able to get the free ringtone.
The video has demonstrated very clearly. It only takes a few minutes. Anyway, I have written down the steps in text and photos. Take a look.
The following steps is tested in Windows Vista. It is nearly the same in Mac OS X. I have tested it under iTunes 8.0.1.
Step 1. In music library, choose View > View Options. Check “Kind” and click OK. You will be able to check the type of music file. Note protected AAC files are not supported.
Step 2. Right click the song you want to convert as ringtone. Choose “Get Info” from the menu.
Step 3. Check “Start Time” and “Stop Time” from Options tab. Enter the range you want as ringtone. It is limited to 15 seconds. If you don’t know which part you want, just listen to the song and mark the time code. Click OK to save settings.
Step 4. Right click the song. Choose “Create AAC version” from the menu.
Step 5. You will be able to see the same name of the song, but with a shorter time in the list. Drag it to the desktop or anywhere you like. Delete the song from the iTunes playlist.
Step 6. Change the song name with extension .m4r. Add a space between the dot. That means if your file name is “mysong.m4r”, then change it to “mysong .m4r”.
Step 7. Drag the file in iTunes library you changed in step 6. It should now be available in iTunes ringtone library. Sync your iPhone. It’s done.
Undo step 3 when all things is done. That is, to uncheck the “Start Time” and “Stop Time” of the song so that it plays normally.
[via CNET]
i tried on itunes 8.01 but it’s not working …
it’s only working on itunes 8 ….
FELIX,
Why it does not work for you? Above guide is tested under iTunes 8.0.1. What format is your file?
it kinda worked for me in a way. is like let’s say i sync in three different ringtones, but yet, after it got sync into the iphone, it turned into three SAME ringtone. i don’t know how it happened. any idea why ? thanks
It’s not working for me. It won’t let me convert it to a “AAC file” It keeps saying “could not be converted because protected files cannot be converted to other formats” PLEASE help!!
Hi
It didn’t work on the german version. If you click right to select create aac file it doesn’t have this menu item.
Any idea how to solve that???
Thanks and Regards
Albert
step 4 doesnt work for me, im using windows, itunes 8.0.1, right click, there is no convert aac and i go advanced, it says create aac version, but its faded out, i cant click it, my iphone firmware is 2.1 and jailbroken, whats wrong with it?
also, its a MPEG audio file
Vicky,
In step 1,
Step 1. In music library, choose View > View Options. Check “Kind” and click OK. You will be able to check the type of music file. Note protected AAC files are not supported.
im very sorry man..i did a mistake and it works well wiz me now…its prefect way…i thought i will find another file after i make ok on get info. i have to convert 1st.
You guys are geniuses.
Worked on 8.0.1 fine for me.
cheers.
I can loaded the .m4r file into ringtone under itunes. After sync, nothing shows up on the iphone. However, the ringtone, despite greyed out, show up under itune>iphone>ringtone. Any solution?
Thanks
wayne,
Did you try to use other song to see whether it works? I mean is that all songs have the same problem, or just that one?
Hi Admin,
I tried and you are right, I have no problem with new song. It seems like the problem occurs when I try to use my previous AAC ringtone backup.
Anyway. Many many thanks for your help!
Hi Admin, I do all the process, and I have the ringtone in Library, but when I go to the rington in iPhone section on iTunes it doesn’t appear any ringtone… I Have de iTunes 8.01.11 and Firmware 1.1.1
It’s that the problem??
Javier L,
Is that your songs is too long? 30 seconds is the limit
Thanks for this tip, it took me awhile to find the solution. For me the key is the space before the dot.
Thanks very much. This works perfectly. The only problem I have is that whenever I want to sync more than one ringtone into my iPhone, it just says I have multiples of only one of my ringtones. Like, if I sync 5 different ringtones, my iPhone will show five of only one of my ringtones (in other words, I have 5 of the same ringtone in my phone instead of 5 different ones). Can anyone help me out with that? Otherwise, it’s perfect. Thanks.
Josh,
I actually sync lots of ringtones. Did you name your ringtone with different names? Have you delete the song in step 5?
This is awesome! Thanks for posting!
Thanks for posting this demo! It worked perfectly!
admin, I did everything you said, but the ringtone doesn’t show itself on the ringtone playlist in itunes. The ringtone is only 9 seconds long.
Krystyn,
Have you try to use another song to work with?
for those with “multiple same ringtones” issue once they get into their actual iPhone, do step 6 again. I was having the same issue but when I just added the space after the name it worked perfectly. ex:
“sweet thing.m4r” = “sweet thing .m4r”
also, make sure you load all of the ringtones into your iTunes library FIRST!!! then sync them from your library to your iPhone only then will it work
Thanks for this.
This was working great, on the third attempt I did not delete the AAC file before adding the newly created ringtone. Now I can see the ringtone file in th ringtone list in iTunes, but when I try to sync, there is no item in the Ringtone sync list.
Can someone please help me and let me know what I can do to revert this mistake.
nilesh,
you should delete the AAC file. It could also be possible that your ringtone is too long.
please can some one help i have tried many a time to get this to work the file is 28 seconds long and shows up in itunes ringtone section but does not show up on my phone im have itunes 8.1.1.10
Sorry new to this, I have the file on my desktop and have changed the name as you direct after changing to AAC and making 15 seconds earlier.
What folder should I drag it into so it shows up in the Ringtone list on Itunes?
To expand on that, when I drag it in to my Itunes folder it shows back up in the playlist for the album instead of as a ringtone
I see what might be the issue, the extension is now .m4r.m4a
When I go to rename it doesn’t show the extension after saving it to my desktop how to I get that option to change the extension? Thanks
Chris,
Are you using Windows or Mac? If you are using Windows, click “Tools” > “Folder Options”. Uncheck hide known extensions.
Admin,
I have iTunes 8.1.1.10, I’ve made it all step by step but when I drag the song short copy to the desktop the name doesn’t appear like “Mysong.m4r” it appears just like “Mysong”. I tried the space between the point but it doesn’t work. When I drag it to iTunes it appears again below the original and nothing on the ringtones library. Does this iTunes 8.1.1.10 needs different instructions?
Josean,
it will happen if your ringtone is too long.