Free Custom Ringtones in iTunes 7.4.2

I <3 me some geekery. I have no intentions of putting my own custom ringtones (or buying any either) on my phone, but I love that the geeky Mac community comes out with "fixes" in no time. Hehe.

Well, that didn't take very long.

That took a whole, what? Two hours?

I still think iToner is the way to go.

When are Apple going to realise that we're a resourceful bunch and give up on this? Let those who don't know pay full whack and leave us lot alone? I hope we don't end up in a PSP situation where there is a ¨required¨ update every other day to get around piracy.

chr1s60 said:

That took a whole, what? Two hours?

I still think iToner is the way to go.

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itoner isnt free though, this is.

chr1s60 said:

That took a whole, what? Two hours?

I still think iToner is the way to go.

Click to expand...

I stumbled on it after about 5 minutes of toying around, although I had already done the ID3 tag fix on my ringtones, so I just had to try changing the extension...

shadowfax said:

I stumbled on it after about 5 minutes of toying around, although I had already done the ID3 tag fix on my ringtones, so I just had to try changing the extension...

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I feel like such a noob... but can you give me some detailed instructions? Thanks!

Macrumors said:

Due to the simplicity of the changes, it seems maybe Apple didn't maliciously break Ringtone support but simply solidified the format.

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Wouldn't that be something?! I'd love to see an end to all the back and forth play. I also find it interesting that iToner sticks through. That's a good record so far.

Telp said:

itoner isnt free though, this is.

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That's not drag and drop. iToner is.

~not trying to start anything, just pointing out the *differences* to be fair.

Atomic Parsley is command line. This gives some folk the heebeejeebees.

Its not about people who don't know or can't figure out how to do the hacks... its about people who just don't want to deal with the hassle of doing ringtones themselves. To these people, who probably only want 1 or 2 ringtones total, its worth the $1 per ringtone to just use the iTunes ringtone system to create the ringtone and download it.

Why go through the hassle of making your own ringtone by editing down a song with a third party app or Garageband, do whatever hackery is needed to make the file compliant and then sync it to your phone when you can do it all in iTunes in a matter of seconds. Its not just about the ringtone, its about the ease and simplicity.

I do my own ringtones because the songs I want aren't available on iTunes. But, for my girlfriend, I just told her to do it off iTunes because it would be a lot less hassle.

Jeff

gceo said:

That's not drag and drop. iToner is.

~not trying to start anything, just pointing out the *differences* to be fair.

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Yes, but MakeiPhoneRingtone is, and I'm sure they will fix this in their free upgrade.

I've asked this in about six other posts, does iToner suvive all firmware updates? Just curious, because I agree with your previous post (or somebody's previous post) and I like the thought of prompt customer service/upgrades due to the fact that money changed hands.

MakeiPhoneRingtone is great, but I have a hunch even that will not be free for long. They will probably include it into fission (their sound editing software), which is unnecessary when you have garageband or even audacity.

Its high time they should just let us make ringtones in itunes.

gceo said:

That's not drag and drop. iToner is.
~not trying to start anything, just pointing out the *differences* to be fair.
Atomic Parsley is command line. This gives some folk the heebeejeebees.

Click to expand...

To be fair to both methods, I think YOU have to realize that it IS drag-and-drop simple... but that you need to find someone to package it right just for you (like Rogue Amoeba for instance). You just have to find the person/company who's created a drag-n-drop version FOR you. The fact of the matter is... once you've created the ringtone using this method, you'll never need to fuss with anything but iTunes to manage your ringtones afterwards! While iToner "manages" your ringtones, this method "converts" your ringtone so that its "iTunes compatible". Being "compatible" means that you don't need a separate "sync" to get new ringtones and another one in a different program in order to grab your latest podcasts... its all in one program (iTunes). It also means you can e-mail a ringtone to your iPhone-toting pals, and they can sync that ringtone in iTunes too.

As much as I dig iToner, you really can't get much simpler than that, especially without costing you anything extra. To repeat, while you can Do-it-Yourself with Atomic Parsely and renaming the file to m4r, numerous... NUMEROUS people have created drag-n-drop scripts from this technique.

The great thing about iToner is NOT how simple it is to use (as other free programs have come around, just as simple, considering they work WITH iTunes, and not as an add-on environment), but that once you pay Ambrosia the $15, THEY will keep up with updates FOR you and all you need to do is launch iToner and choose "Check for Updates" from the menu. It's an "update crazy" time right now it seems. By paying for it, you get the support of a very good company, watching your back.

~ CB

Do you have to use the Atomic Parsley thing? Cuz that thing confuses me i never used that thing before i just changed the extension to m4r and then m4a when it was in the ringtones folder, what do i do exactly with this Atomic Parsley thing?

I'm not entirely sure this workaround works. I tried the following with an m4a file:

1.) Changed the STIK field.
2.) Changed the file extension to m4r using Get Info.
3.) Dragged the file into iTunes.

Ok, great, it recognizes it on the Ringtone list. However, it doesn't show up on the Ringtone sync tab and when it gets to the point of copying the file iTunes complains that it won't work on the phone.

Next, I tried to change the file within the newly created Ringtones folder to m4a. Resynced. This time, it appeared to copy the file. But, it still doesn't appear on the Ringtones sync tab. Worse, it doesn't appear on the Ringtone list on the phone itself.

Unless I'm missing something obvious here, I think the people who came up with this "workaround" just saw the file show up on the Ringtone list and thought they were done. I can't seem to get files to copy to the phone AND be choosable on the phone's ringtone list.

ivi7 said:

Its high time they should just let us make ringtones in itunes.

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It would seem Apple couldn't agree with you more:
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Te...s_and_the_Complex_World_of_Copyright_Law.html

Remember when that video came out on YouTube, showing that Apple had integrated ringtones into iTunes, and then suddenly the feature never materialized after launch? You notice that after all that negotiation, Universal Music is entirely absent from iTunes ringtones selection? Yeah. It's not easy trying to create legal services that benefit consumers, while making your way through gobs of red tape. Just FYI.

~ CB

Apple encourages us to "Think Different", but it's funny when their Wallet is concerned they want us to think like everyone else and use only the ringtones that they approve...

GRRR.

I changed the STIK value using Atomic Parsley, and it adds them to the Ringtone tab on the right side of iTunes, but they don't show up on the iPhone and don't show up in the Ringtones Sync option. Any ideas on what I'm missing?

EDIT: It's even COPYING them to the iPhone but they still aren't showing up on the iPhone sound options or on the Ringtones sync tab....HELP!

This trick isn't working for me. I changed the value using atomic parsley while the file is .m4r then renamed to .m4a and dragged into the ringtones spot in iTunes. Doesn't show up and not syncing.

Nagooya said:

I feel like such a noob... but can you give me some detailed instructions? Thanks!

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Well, in theory,

the simplest way to do this is to download Atomic Parsley, and then open a Terminal window, and drag the file "AtomicParsley" in the folder that you download onto it. Then press space in the Terminal window, and go to Finder and find the file you want, and drag it onto the Terminal window. now hit the space bar again in the Terminal window, and add "--stik value=14" (no quotes of course) to the input. It ought to look like this:

After that, go to the folder where the ringtone you added was, and you should see a file that looks like this: <RingtoneName>-temp-66832.m4a . Note that the number will be random (I think). Rename this file to <RingtoneName>.m4r. Make sure you do this by right-clicking on it, selecting "Get Info..." and changing the name and extension under the "Name & Extension" tab of the Info window.

After you do that, you can add it to your library. That's the simplest I can make it...

Let me know if this works, if you try it. It works for me, but one other user has found it doesn't--he's on a G4, though, if that is of significance.

scotty588 said:

This trick isn't working for me. I changed the value using atomic parsley while the file is .m4r then renamed to .m4a and dragged into the ringtones spot in iTunes. Doesn't show up and not syncing.

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You need to add the .m4r version into iTunes. I hope that wasn't just a typo.

Can anyone else confirm this method? it works for me, but I haven't had anyone else try it and confirm it.

holy crap that was fast. lol way to go guys... new speed records hahah.

Tested with iPhone?

Shadowfax, have you tested this with an actual iPhone? The "stik then rename" technique works to add the file to the Library, and have it show up in the Ringtones sub-library.

However, the file does not appear in the Ringtones tab in iTunes, and of course, it doesn't sync over.

So, are you testing this with an iPhone, or just iTunes?

doesn't work for me either!

Just doesn't work. m4r, m4a, tried all sorts of songs. NADA!