Creating Custom iPhone Ringtones

This post is to help those of us who have iPhones, create ringtones from their iTunes music library.

Apple, as you may know, provide the ability within iTunes to create ringtones from your music library, the only down side to this is that it is only available in the US & they charge for the privilege, one official way around this is to use the GarageBand application, but again, the down side to this is that’s only available on the iMac’s within iLife suite.

So, what about us Windows users? After some searching on the interweb, I found some articles that provide a ‘workaround’ to enable us Brits using Windows PC’s to create ringtones, it is a bit long winded, but it does appear to work.

These steps only assume the following

• You know how to use a Windows PC
• Are familiar with Apple iTunes
• Have the file extension of known file types showing

Please Note, these steps will not work with Protected AAC Audio Files

These steps are provided for information only, no liability implied or otherwise will be accepted for loss of data or music – You do these steps on the understanding that it is at your own risk

1. In iTunes, select Music under the Library heading
2. Right-click a menu heading on the right hand side to bring up a list of available columns
3. Select Kind, this will list the type of files in your music library
4. Select the tune you want to make in to a ringtone (it must not be a protected AAC audio file)
5. Play the selected tune
6. Using the display at the top of iTunes, make a note of the start time of the section of music you wish to use
7. Make a note of the end time of the section of music you wish to use
8. Right-click the select tune and then select Get Info
9. Select Options
10. Enter the Start and End times noted in steps 6 & 7, then click OK
11. Right-click the select tune again and then select Create AAC version, this will create an new entry with the same name in your library, but the play time will be of that of the ringtone
12. Select and drag this new item to your desktop
13. Once the file is on your desktop delete the new entry in iTunes (remember this is the new much shorter version, not the original tune selected)
14. Right-click the original tune used in step 4 and then select Get Info
15. Select Options
16. Clear the Start and End Time check boxes then click OK (this ensures your original music file plays correctly again)
17. Right-click the music (m4a) file on your desktop and select Rename
18. Rename the .m4a extension to .m4r and press Enter (accept the change)
19. Open Windows Explorer and locate your iTunes library folder (for example C:\Program Files\Music\iTunes)
20. Create a new folder called Ringtones
21. Move the .m4r file from your desktop to the newly created Ringtones folder
22. Drag the file in the Ringtones folder in to the Library within iTunes
23. Within iTunes, select the Ringtones option within iTunes, the new ringtone file should now be listed
24. Sync with your iPhone

Hope you find this information useful, please leave a comment J