Free Custom Ringtones in iTunes 7.5 and iPhone 1.1.2

[MacRumors]

Several users have noted that custom ringtone workarounds have started working again the latest version of iTunes and iPhone firmware 1.1.2. The most detailed descriptions were provided by:

overminer for Windows XP

1. Choose your music or sound (mp3)
2. Use audacity to cut the song to 40 seconds or less
3. Drag the song to itunes
4. Right click on the song in itunes and convert to AAC
5. Find the .mpa song in folder My DocumentsMy MusiciTunesiTunes Music
6. Make sure you have a folder My DocumentsMy MusiciTunesiTunes MusicRingtones (if not create the folder)
7. Rename the .mpa song to .mpr (you may want to change your computer settings to show hidden extensions)
8. Double click on the renamed song.
9. The new ringtone should now appear in the ringtones list in itunes. Select it for syncing
10. Sync the iphone.
11. Go to SettingsSoundRingtone on the iPhone. There is a new grouping called Custom. Your new ringtone should be there.

and jkwuc89 for Mac OS X 10.5:

Select the song in iTunes that I want to use as a ringtone. Protected AAC files will not work.
Right-click on the song and select Get Info
Go to the Options page and select the start and end times for the ringtone
Right-click on the song again and select Convert Selection to AAC
Right-click on the converted song and select Show in Finder
Drag the .m4a file from the Finder window to your desktop
Go back to iTunes and delete the converted song from iTunes. When I skipped this step, double clicking on the .m4r file to import the ringtone into iTunes did not work properly.
Right-click on the song file on your desktop, select Get Info and change the file extension from .m4a to m4r. You should get a warning message about changing the extension.
Open a Finder window and locate the Ringtones folder underneath your iTunes folder. The path should be /Users//Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Ringtones. If this folder does not exist, create it.
Drag the renamed song file from your desktop to the Ringtones folder in Finder.
Double-click on the .m4r file now stored inside the Ringtones folder. iTunes should change to the Ringtones folder under Library near the top and start playing the ringtone
Plug-in your iPhone to begin the sync process. This should copy the ringtone over to your iPhone. You can verify this after the sync is complete by expanding the iPhone contents inside iTunes and then, selecting the Ringtones folder.

Now, after doing the sync step above, I still did not have a Custom category under Settings | Sounds | Ringtone on my iPhone. I suspect that "something" must be done to get this to appear (like purchasing and syncing a ringtone for instance). So, to work around this, I downloaded, installed and ran the trial version of iToner. After doing one sync from within iToner, the Custom category showed up on my iPhone.

We don't know if Apple will take this method away again in the future. In the meanwhile, iPhoneRingToneMaker (Windows) and iToner (Mac) continue to function with the latest updates.


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[greatestash]

Originally Posted by Macrumors

Several users have noted that custom ringtone workarounds have started working again the latest version of iTunes and iPhone firmware 1.1.2. The most detailed descriptions were provided by:

overminer for Windows XP


and jkwuc89 for Mac OS X 10.5:

I tried that yesterday; its working like a charm. oh for your info, i have iMac 10.5 with itune 7.5 and iphone version 1.1.2.

[ortuno2k]

I did it in OS X slightly different.

Dragged the song I wanted to convert from my iTunes library to the desktop.
Opened GarageBand and imported the song.
Edited the song to be about 26 seconds long and the part I wanted.
Imported to iTunes using the built-in feature to import to iTunes.
Dragged back out to my desktop, rename from aac to m4r.
Imported back to iTunes, and it showed up in my Ringtones folder.
Sync'd iPhone and worked like a charm. I've only tried it with 1 song, but I imagine that this would work with any other drm-free song.

[rstansby]

Originally Posted by ortuno2k

I did it in OS X slightly different.

Dragged the song I wanted to convert from my iTunes library to the desktop.
Opened GarageBand and imported the song.
Edited the song to be about 26 seconds long and the part I wanted.
Imported to iTunes using the built-in feature to import to iTunes.
Dragged back out to my desktop, rename from aac to m4r.
Imported back to iTunes, and it showed up in my Ringtones folder.
Sync'd iPhone and worked like a charm. I've only tried it with 1 song, but I imagine that this would work with any other drm-free song.

That works for me.

[Manatee]

That's good news. I want to make some ringtones that sound like a traditional ringing phone, but different from the ones supplied with the iPhone -- so my ring can stand out from others.

One trivial thing that really annoys me in a business setting is phone rings that sound like music. It just messes with the required mindset for getting my work done. At a bar or a stadium, those rings don't bother me a bit -- I even look forward to catching a clever one.

[baseballman1243]

I am using windows and the extension is .m4a not .mpa does anyone know why?

[mikes63737]

I noticed that it can't be 30 seconds. It has to be less than 29 or it won't work for me. This is weird considering the ones I bought are 31 each...

[RosieO]

Originally Posted by mikes63737

I noticed that it can't be 30 seconds. It has to be less than 29 or it won't work for me. This is weird considering the ones I bought are 31 each...

I just made 2, one is 39 seconds and the other is 40 seconds and they work perfectly on my iPhone.

[juststranded]

I made an Automator action that does this automatically, but I don't know how to share it with everyone. Can someone help me get this out to people?

Here are the steps you have to take:
1. Set the start and end times in iTunes for the songs you want.
2. Select them.
3. Go to desktop and run script.
4. Select the songs on the desktop and click continue.
5. (Be sure the Ringtones folder is selected in the prompt, and) click continue. (I don't think I can have it make and select the Ringtones folder for you because your paths might be different depending on what your "Home" name is and whatnot. You'll have to set it personally in order to skip this last step)

P.S. I don't have an iPhone so I can't test, but I don't see why it wouldn't.

[SFC Archer]

Originally Posted by baseballman1243

I am using windows and the extension is .m4a not .mpa does anyone know why?

Baseballman...the extension IS .m4a...NOT .mpa...You will be converting your ringtone from .m4a to .m4r

The original instructions are wrong on the extension.

Hope this helps...Good Luck!

[waste46]

there are alot of unnesssaccery steps here. Teh onl;y program needed is itunes.

1. Select song you want, edit start stop tiome to your liking, as mentioned above.
2. make sure you import file format is aac
3. convert selection to acc (by right clicking oir a cnrtl-click)


and thas it, steps are the same for windows and mac users, its accesible for itunes users, which should be all iphone owners.

[aonflux]

when i used this method to create ringtones a few months ago, it worked fine. however when i tried to delete the ringtone it would still show up in itunes even though the file was not on my computer anymore. does this problem still exist? Thanks.

[riffat]

Originally Posted by baseballman1243

I am using windows and the extension is .m4a not .mpa does anyone know why?

same here, i did everything but when i tried to lync it with iphone i kept getting an error saying that those ringtones were not copied on to the iphone because they cant be played in the Iphone....


what do i do??

what am i doing wrong?

[SFC Archer]

Originally Posted by jfmiii

ive got the file converted to .m4r and when i right click the file in Explorer, it shows as file type 'Ringtone.' I cant get it into the Ringtones library in iTunes though. anyone have any ideas on how i can get it to work?? thanks!

Originally Posted by riffat

same here, i did everything but when i tried to lync it with iphone i kept getting an error saying that those ringtones were not copied on to the iphone because they cant be played in the Iphone....


what do i do??

what am i doing wrong?

For both of you...I would check the length of your clips. If you are using Audacity and in some other programs you may have to clip it to 28 sec or less for it to do the trasfer after conversion. With GB this is not an issue for 40 secs or less. Only using windows and one of the above has this problem been noted...so again...shorten your tone and try to drag and drop into the iTunes Ringtone Folder. It should work.

Good Luck

[danor]

Re:

Originally Posted by overminer

Custom ringtones do work with 1.1.2 without hacks on a Windows XP system. Here are the steps.

1. Choose your music or sound (mp3)
2. Use audacity to cut the song to 40 seconds or less
3. Drag the song to itunes
4. Right click on the song in itunes and convert to AAC
5. Find the .m4a song in folder \My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music
6. Make sure you have a folder \My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Ringtones (if not create the folder)
7. Rename the .m4a song to .m4r (you may want to change your computer settings to show hidden extensions)
8. Double click on the renamed song.
9. The new ringtone should now appear in the ringtones list in itunes. Select it for syncing
10. Sync the iphone.
11. Go to Settings\Sound\Ringtone on the iPhone. There is a new grouping called Custom. Your new ringtone should be there.

That was easy. Ringtones seem to be snappier...

When you say 'rename' how is it that you can rename the extension
or are you just renaming the title?
ie - "song" (it's extension is .m4a)
to "song.m4r" (it's extension is still .m4a) ?

I am using U.S. iPhone version 1.1.2 with itunes version 7.5.0.20

[iSaint]

Originally Posted by danor

Re:
When you say 'rename' how is it that you can rename the extension
or are you just renaming the title?
ie - "song" (it's extension is .m4a)
to "song.m4r" (it's extension is still .m4a) ?

I am using U.S. iPhone version 1.1.2 with itunes version 7.5.0.20

Change the extension to m4r

You can do this through Get Information ( Apple + i ) or, in Finder, click once on the name and it will become editable.

It will be song.m4r

[danor]

Originally Posted by iSaint

Change the extension to m4r

You can do this through Get Information ( Apple + i ) or, in Finder, click once on the name and it will become editable.

It will be song.m4r

Thanks Saint but I am using XP.
Do you know how I can do it there?

[overminer]

to rename a file in windows:

Open Windows explorer
Find the file you need to rename
Right click the file
Type the new name of the file including the extension ".m4r"

If you can't see the extention in windows explorer go to Tools/folder options/advance and enable show file extension.

[cgonz61070]

I'm still using version 1.0.2 on my iphone since i'm not in the US and upgrading it will cause blocking... and I have the new 7.5 version of itunes... I guess this combination will not work for customizing ringtones? I'm having the same trouble of: getting the ring on the "ringtones library" of itunes, but not recognized in the "ringtones tab" of the iphone area... and after trying to sync, the error message "... song cannot be played on this iphone" appears... Is there a solution? Or I just gonna have to update the phone? Thanks.

[William Gates]

When I Import a song it slows it way down. a five minute song is stretched to 20 minutes. HOw do i speed it up?

[ayyitssdaveee]

As my first post and a new iPhone user, I wanna say that this worked perfectly and thanks for posting it up! I'm looking forward to learning more about this phone.

My only question about this is, Once you have the ringtone on the iPhone, can you delete the fragmented songs from your music library? Will that delete it from the Ringtones category? It just seems odd to have two 30 second fragments under the comlplete song in your library. All help is appreciated.

--Dave

[dannyar]

buy your ringtones and u wont have to worry about a program that works.

[ayyitssdaveee]

I answered my own question by the way... I just gave it a shot and deleted it from the library and it is still in the ringtones category and on the phone. Just letting anyone know who might have had the same question

[bushman1]

do you need a hacked 1.1.1 to do an ok to upgrade or just stock 1.1.2? just need to know to save some time.

[Jamie814b]

hi, i have a quick question about the custom ring tones. I followed the exact instructions, even got the ring tone that is 30 seconds onto my phone and it says custom ring tones. The ring tone is even selected as default ring tone, but whenever i recieve a call it goes back to the stock ring tone, even though the one i selected says it's default on my phone. Has anyone had this problem? I am using firmware 1.1.2 and using firmware 7.5.020.