Creating Ringtones in iTunes?

[Lord Pounder]

How the feck are you supposed to make a ringtone in iTunes.

I noticed the other day that when I right clicked on a song in iTunes there was an option, create ringtone, but when i selected on of my MP3's I figured most appropriate it said the song had to be bought from the iTunes store. I figured my iPhone had a pretty pathetic range of ringtones so I wanted to make one that was more me. I went on iTunes store and paid £0.79 for Ride Of The Valkyries. Now every time I select create ringtone it tells me I am not connected to the internet and I need a net connection in order to make the ringtone. WTF?

Can anyone tell me what I did wrong?

[Stark]

Don't do it that way.

Open info and set start and stop times to the part of the song you want to make a ringtone (remember max 40s). Right click, convert to aac (this will make an aac version), then go show in explorer and change the extention to m4r, then add that file back in and it'll be recognised as a ringtone and sync'd next time.

Done. Don't PAY for it.

[Qwerty 42]

Something else that works is if you convert to MP3 using DaniusSoft mp3 converter and Audacity to cut the song down to size.

[Stark]

Man you must get a kickback from Daniusoft for pimping their software!

[Phantasee]

40s is a bit long, no? 30s is pretty much the standard size, as far as I have seen, and if you have a voicemail service that picks up after 4 rings, 20s is all you need (21s if you don't want it to loop by chance).

Unless rings in Australia or the UK are of different lengths than NA?

[Stark]

No Phant, you don't understand; you can make and add a ringtone to your library of any length, but it will NOT be sync'd to your iPhone unless it's 40s or less. It's a limitation, not a recommendation. But you can't just convert a song to aac then rename it and have it work without considering length.

[Qwerty 42]

Man you must get a kickback from Daniusoft for pimping their software!

It happened to be free (if you're converting from iTunes Plus) and it's been the best I've found.

[Stark]

What I just said is also free, with the added bonus of ONLY USING ITUNES which I KNOW HE HAS. It's a three step process for fuck's sake. It takes about five seconds assuming you know the time offsets.

[General Zod]

The iPhone has size limitations for ringtones? Huh. I can just drag and drop any mp3 onto my blackberry's SD card and select it for a ringtone regardless of length. I wouldn't have figured Apple's phone would have that kind of silly limitation.

[charlemagne]

I wouldn't have figured Apple's phone would have that kind of silly limitation.

Sorry, but lol IIRC the first iPhone didn't even allow for custom ringtones AT ALL, so this is even an improvement.

[General Zod]

I wouldn't have figured Apple's phone would have that kind of silly limitation.

Sorry, but lol IIRC the first iPhone didn't even allow for custom ringtones AT ALL, so this is even an improvement.

I find this even more baffling considering the iPhone's touted music capabilities.

[charlemagne]

I find this even more baffling considering the iPhone's touted music capabilities.

Yeah, that was outright bizarre, I couldn't believe that at all either. I mean, not being able to display flash when browsing the internet, that's highly annoying and all, but not being able to just point at a song on your "smart"phone and tell it to use it as a ringtone (when every phone I've ever owned over the last 6 years could do this) - there's no excuse for that.

[Qwerty 42]

What I just said is also free, with the added bonus of ONLY USING ITUNES which I KNOW HE HAS. It's a three step process for fuck's sake. It takes about five seconds assuming you know the time offsets.

It was just an alternative suggestion: preferable, probably not.

[Stark]

I find this even more baffling considering the iPhone's touted music capabilities.

I don't think it's baffling at all that Apple bent over backwards for stupid rights issues. I hear selling ringtones is a big market and Apple has a relationship with the music industry?

Frankly, using a random mp3 as a ringtone is stupid unless the bit you want is at the start. Many phones let you use whatever you want, but I've never seen one that lets you pick the time offset. You're never going to use more than 40s, so while it's unecessarily obtuse I don't consider it a real issue.

People who use music as ringtones deserve to be stabbed to death, anyway.

[charlemagne]

Frankly, using a random mp3 as a ringtone is stupid unless the bit you want is at the start. Many phones let you use whatever you want, but I've never seen one that lets you pick the time offset. You're never going to use more than 40s, so while it's unecessarily obtuse I don't consider it a real issue.

Well, it's a valid point that most songs aren't suited as ringtones without editing - although there's a couple that are and I've been using such songs Thinking about it, the real issue was the "no custom ringtone at all" bit, but that has been fixed, and I guess the editing part wouldn't me bother that much, since how often do you change ringtones? Personally I'm setting one when getting a new phone, and that's it for the next couple of years. So, I admit that it's not an issue.

People who use music as ringtones deserve to be stabbed to death, anyway.

Another valid point TBH my cellphone is on vibrate only the whole time I carry it with me anyways, my awesome custom music file ringtone can only be heard when I'm at home and the phone is not in my pocket.

[Stark]

Hey, I'm not saying it's not dumb (paricularly the 'pay for it' scam). I just don't care because there's a trivial workaround that you'd have to do ANYWAY for the huge proportion of songs for which the 'good' bit is not the start.

Except the Doctor Who theme. LOL!

[General Zod]

I find this even more baffling considering the iPhone's touted music capabilities.

I don't think it's baffling at all that Apple bent over backwards for stupid rights issues. I hear selling ringtones is a big market and Apple has a relationship with the music industry?

Frankly, using a random mp3 as a ringtone is stupid unless the bit you want is at the start. Many phones let you use whatever you want, but I've never seen one that lets you pick the time offset. You're never going to use more than 40s, so while it's unecessarily obtuse I don't consider it a real issue.

People who use music as ringtones deserve to be stabbed to death, anyway.

I don't think it's a real issue, I just think it's strange how backwards Apple's scheme for ringtones is to everyone else.

[Phantasee]

My last ringer was the ending of The Chain by Fleetwood Mac, but the copy I made was too quiet at the beginning, so I never heard it until it was about to forward to voice mail. I should get around to fixing it, I suppose. I'm kinda tired of hearing that tune from BSG, the Scar theme.

Most annoying ringer I've found is the THX sound, though.

[DPDarkPrimus]

My solution would to be buy a phone that allows you to put your own mp3s on it for use as ringtones.

I make them for myself all the time.

[Stark]

You mean like the iPhone, as described in this very thread?

Alternately, custom ringtones that everyone hates > every other feature iPhone brings to the table! Imagine how fat you'd have to be to think 'custom ringtone exactly like some other brand y/n' is a deal-breaker.

Oh sorry, you use MP3, sorry. I'll see you in the far future of 2005!

[DPDarkPrimus]

Look at Stark telling me how advanced the iPhone is.

[Stark]

Look at DP desperately backpedalling from being stupid enough to post 'wow lol buy a phone that lets you use whatever you want I make them myself' in a thread about a phone that does in which the procedure for making them is described.

Either that or he's a) fat and b) in love with MP3. YOU DECIDE.

[frogcurry]

I'm surprised no one has suggested using Audiko:

http://audiko.net/

Which does all the hard work for you. Much simpler than using the itunes method.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Look at DP desperately backpedalling from being stupid enough to post 'wow lol buy a phone that lets you use whatever you want I make them myself' in a thread about a phone that does in which the procedure for making them is described.

Either that or he's a) fat and b) in love with MP3. YOU DECIDE.

So how does the iPhone make a ringtone? Take the first 40 seconds of the song?

[JLTucker]

Look at DP desperately backpedalling from being stupid enough to post 'wow lol buy a phone that lets you use whatever you want I make them myself' in a thread about a phone that does in which the procedure for making them is described.

Either that or he's a) fat and b) in love with MP3. YOU DECIDE.

So how does the iPhone make a ringtone? Take the first 40 seconds of the song?

Did you even read the post he made, you stupid motherfucker?

Open info and set start and stop times to the part of the song you want to make a ringtone (remember max 40s). Right click, convert to aac (this will make an aac version), then go show in explorer and change the extention to m4r, then add that file back in and it'll be recognised as a ringtone and sync'd next time.