How to Make Custom iPhone Ringtones for Free

So, you bought an iPhone. You love the phone and all its features, but wish you didn't have to pay for your songs twice to get a ringtone. There are plenty of songs in your music library, but no way to make ringtones from any of them. Or are there? Actually, with a little bit of trickery (nothing illegal) you can create ringtones from any one of your non-DRM songs in your iTunes library easily and for free. This works on both Mac and Windows PCs.

*Please note: there may be differences among all the possible combinations of iTunes versions and operating system versions (see Tips below for a way to work around the syncing issues).

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• iPhone
• iTunes
• Mac or Windows Computer
• Non-DRM song (i.e. one not bought from the iTunes Store)

1. Open iTunes.

2. Find the song that you want to make into a ringtone.

3. Listen to the song and find the part of it you want to use. The chorus may be a good place to start.

4. Write down the start and stop times of the clip.

5. Right-click the song and select "Get Info."

6. Click the "Options" tab.

7. Type in the start time of your ringtone in the text box next to "Start Time" in the minutes:seconds (i.e. 2:01) format.

8. 

   Type in the end time of your ringtone in the text box next to "Stop Time." Make sure the ringtone is no more than 40 seconds long.

9. Click "OK."

10. Right-click your song again and select "Convert Selection to AAC." Wait for iTunes to convert your song. It will create a duplicate version.

11. Right-click the ringtone and select "Delete."

12. Click on the "Keep Files" button.

13. Find the file. It's usually in your User folder under Music > iTunes > iTunes Music and under the band's name. It will have an extension of "m4a."

14. 

    Replace the "m4a" extension of your ringtone with "m4r". You can either double-click slowly to rename your file, or right-click and select "Get Info" on a Mac or "Rename" on a Windows PC.

15. 

    Click "Use .m4r" or the PC equivalent when the system warns you that the change may affect the use of your file.

16. 

    Double-click the ringtone file. ITunes will automatically add it to your ringtones folder in your iTunes Music Library.

17. Connect your iPhone and sync your ringtones.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are having trouble syncing the ringtones to your iPhone, find the ringtone in your Ringtones folder and change the extension back to .M4A, then attempt to sync again.
• Instead of deleting it, you can also drag the newly converted ringtone to your desktop from iTunes and follow the rest of the steps.
• There may be some problems with the latest version of Leopard; renaming the file may not work properly, and you won't be able to add it to the Ringtones folder.
• This will not work with songs bought at the iTunes store or that have DRM (copy protection). Your best bet is to use a song that you have imported from a CD.

[iceman82673]

on 11/8/2009 This works, but you can do this in just 4 steps if you go to mobilespin.net and use their free ringtone tool. It generates a .m4r at the end which you can drag/drop in iTunes and sync to iPhone and you're done

[vivianmarkum]

on 11/7/2009 ring tones are fun , making LOVE is even better. Go to www.ju-ce.com/sexpal.html

[audiogeek]

on 11/7/2009 This method no longer works. There are lots of free pre-made ringtones on the web, just google it. My favourite site is www.iphoneringtones.ca

[shomamage]

on 11/6/2009 To view file extensions in Windows:

-Click on "Start"
-Go to "Control Panel"
-If you are in Classic View skip the next step
-Click the "Switch to Classic View" link on the upper left
-Double click "Folder Options"
-Click the "View" tab
-Uncheck the option that says "Hide extensions for known file types"
-Click "OK"
-Rock out

[savedbygrace143]

on 11/6/2009 tinyangel, you have to open up my computer, then click tools, folder options,view, UNCHECK "hide extentions for known file types", apply, okay,Copy the converted (less than 40 seconds AAC file) paste it on the desktop, right click on, click rename, then at the end of the song just type .m4r EG: no air.m4r, then drap it into the itunes music section, it should be there in the ringtones option now