exactly, its not that im lazy its just it gets annoying every time i want to do it
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Am I the only one pissed about how hard it is to set ringtones.
- Thread starter sotorious
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
exactly, its not that im lazy its just it gets annoying every time i want to do it
How often do you change your ringtone? I change mine every few months (If that) and about 15 seconds of work every couple of months is nothing. If you don't like the trouble, purchase one for a buck on iTunes.
If he wants to change his ringtone everyday he can...you're missing his point. His point is that the process is way too involved when it should be much more streamlined and simple. You shouldn't need your computer to do something as simple as make a ringtone. How bout this:
-what if he is away from his computer? Why should he have to go all the way home just to use a new ringtone?
-what if his computer is down? Why should he have to get his computer repaired just to change his ringtone?
-What if someone is using his computer at the time he wants a new ringtone? Why should he have to wait on the person to get off his computer to use a new ringtone? Or Why should that person have to get off the computer so he can use a new ringtone?
Your reasoning is absurd... Like... Wow. Please never be a lawyer.
There are ringtone apps that allow you to create ringtones in a matter of seconds. Literally. I added 20 ringtones to my phone is just a few minutes.
He can add a bunch of ones he wants all at once and then switch between them throughout the course of his day.
If he's not near a computer, then he can wait until he gets home. He doesn't seem like a busy guy, so I'm sure he's not getting many calls throughout the day. Busy people don't worry/nor care about what ringtone they have when someone calls. At least not to change it multiple times a day.
You go an make that illogical statement but yet MY reasoning is absurd? You've got to be kidding me. What I stated are all very possible things, and what you stated is he should wait until he gets home?! Well what if he isn't going home?...What if he's going to spend the night at his lady's house? Stop being a fanboy long enough to at least be reasonable. Telling someone he changes his ringtone too much isn't a reasonable response.
Like I said before, he can add all his favorite ringtones on his phone at once. Add 200 ringtones to keep you busy for a year. It's not like to change your ringtone you need your computer. You only need it to add new ones.
Why would he need to change his ringtone while going to his lady's house? (At least to something that he doesn't already have on his phone) Your logic is just a bit ridiculous.
Apple has solutions for people with OCD. Pay $1 and buy it through iTunes on your phone. If you need it that very second.
Wake up call
I guess you'd say I'm a fanboy and I've even made a business offering ringtone apps (AutoRingtone & Ringtones Uncensored, #1 ringtone app @BestAppEver.com) yet I can't defend Apple on this one. I have 300,000+ users who have created over 3 million ringtones using my (mostly free) apps and while the ringtone process may seem easy to us techies, I still spend a lot of time every day providing iTunes support (not app support... iTunes support) to my users. Most review/complaints are iTunes related.
I'm also looking at Android and other platforms and all you have to do is point your phone at supported sound filetype (MP3 and others) and say 'use as ringtone'. For that ability to be lacking from the leading music/app/smartphone platform, that touts their ease-of-use superiority, well, it's just silly. iTunes is really a workaround... this is something the phone should be able to do out of the box. I no longer travel with my MacBook... just an iPad and iPhone. I might travel ten days a month. And when I meet new contacts, I'd like to be able to assign a ringtone to them (using my TEXT-TO-SPEECH Caller ID app of course!)
Also, keep in mind that ringtones can be used as alarm clock alerts. I could setup a talking alert like "Pickup your prescription" or "Take kids to school", etc., so it's something I might want to do frequently... but I can't transfer those without my computer.
If Steve Jobs thinks computers are going to be like trucks, used by specialists, and most people will use iOS-type devices, then this can't continue. You can film, edit, add effects/transitions and publish a movie on the iPhone but you can't select a supported sound file and make it a ringtone. And don't get me started on SMS/text/email alerts, etc.
It's time, Apple. It's time. Perhaps the iCloud will be the answer. iHope. In the meantime, it's silly defending an inferior mechanism. Apple does have a good track record of making changes, perhaps not as fast as we'd like. You couldn't use ANY custom ringtones initially, but you can't excuse this feature deficiency.
I guess you'd say I'm a fanboy and I've even made a business offering ringtone apps (AutoRingtone & Ringtones Uncensored, #1 ringtone app @BestAppEver.com) yet I can't defend Apple on this one. I have 300,000+ users who have created over 3 million ringtones using my (mostly free) apps and while the ringtone process may seem easy to us techies, I still spend a lot of time every day providing iTunes support (not app support... iTunes support) to my users. Most review/complaints are iTunes related.
I'm also looking at Android and other platforms and all you have to do is point your phone at supported sound filetype (MP3 and others) and say 'use as ringtone'. For that ability to be lacking from the leading music/app/smartphone platform, that touts their ease-of-use superiority, well, it's just silly. iTunes is really a workaround... this is something the phone should be able to do out of the box. I no longer travel with my MacBook... just an iPad and iPhone. I might travel ten days a month. And when I meet new contacts, I'd like to be able to assign a ringtone to them (using my TEXT-TO-SPEECH Caller ID app of course!)
Also, keep in mind that ringtones can be used as alarm clock alerts. I could setup a talking alert like "Pickup your prescription" or "Take kids to school", etc., so it's something I might want to do frequently... but I can't transfer those without my computer.
If Steve Jobs thinks computers are going to be like trucks, used by specialists, and most people will use iOS-type devices, then this can't continue. You can film, edit, add effects/transitions and publish a movie on the iPhone but you can't select a supported sound file and make it a ringtone. And don't get me started on SMS/text/email alerts, etc.
It's time, Apple. It's time. Perhaps the iCloud will be the answer. iHope. In the meantime, it's silly defending an inferior mechanism. Apple does have a good track record of making changes, perhaps not as fast as we'd like. You couldn't use ANY custom ringtones initially, but you can't excuse this feature deficiency.
You make absolutely no sense at all. What sense would it make for him to make his ringtones in bulk just in case he wants a new one and is away from his computer? That's a whole lot of trouble to go through when you should be able to just simply do it from your phone. Why does he need a reason to change his ringtone? He should have the option to change his ringtone whenever he wants to. You sure are going through a lot of trouble to make it seem as if the OP does not have a point, not sure why but it really is ridiculous.
Excellent post! There are many things the iphone does well, it's just that ringtones are not one of them.
The problem with Apple is the fact that you have to make it the m4r file which is no different than a m4a file type other than the name. It was done that way for Apple greed because they want they people buy it from apple.
All the other phone out there can play mp3 or m4a as the ring tone. I think most people would be happy is apple just locked the ringtone down to m4a file types.
All the other phone out there can play mp3 or m4a as the ring tone. I think most people would be happy is apple just locked the ringtone down to m4a file types.
If he wants to change his ringtone, then he is able to. He doesn't need a computer for that. As long as his ringtone was previously added onto his phone. A person only has so many favorite songs. He can use iTunes, and one of the multiple ringtone makers to create a ringtone for all his favorite songs. This way, when he's in the mood to change his ringtone, he is able to. He's in the minority of people that change their ringtone every hour, so why would Apple go out of it's way to do this just for him... And you... Since you seem to be so against Apple and how they do things. If you don't like it, purchase a new phone. If you need a new ringtone that ABSOLUTE SECOND and you can't go one more second without having this 'new' ringtone, you can download them from iTunes, on your phone. And you won't need to use a computer.
PM me to further continue our conversation, as I won't be responding in this thread anymore. At least not to whatever you might say, as this is going no where.
Judging from your stance of "don't change your ringtone so much and you won't have a problem", you obviously are biased to the point you are void of logic. That being said there is no point in talking to a wall, so whenever you're ready to start making sense we can resume this...until I think we're done here.
Great post.
Anyone who defends Apple on this front is clearly not even trying to see the other side of the coin. The extent to which he is trying to paint over this glaring omission in iOS is simply laughable.
Also, we should be able to set our messaging tones to whatever we want, whenever we want (sms, email, heck, even notifications).
I was going to say some things in defense of Apple's handling of the ringtone situation but after reading the past few pages and posts and reevaluating it all, it's admittedly hard to really defend it. To be honest, I was indeed a bit surprised at how the whole ringtone thing seemed mismanaged to an extent. I vaguely remember the option to pay for the 30-second clips on iTunes years ago (before I ever had an iPhone myself lol), and that seemed to falter. The way they seemed to get rid of that altogether seems to have confirmed that as well lol But hey, Apple makes its mistakes every now and then, no company's perfect.
Try this on for size, as i was going to help a family member mind you who was not tech savy put a ringtone onto her new iphone. Before i came to the rescue apple was trying and then replied to her saying the iphone is not for everyone mam, after she made a remark about her older phone being easier.
Anyway as trying to set a ringtone for her it kept prompting her that it was going to remove all her music from her iphone in order to sync her ringtones WTF!, trying to avoid that, was looking for a work around could not find one, I then had to click ok for itunes to remove all her music from the phone. I get passed that step, then its saying its going to delete 29 apps, and change some contact information in OUTLOOK on the computer, at this point i was remoted into her computer because explaining over the phone just got wayyy to difficult. Finally fixed the app issue, then got the ringtones to finally sync, THEN ALL THE RINGTONES WERE NOT THERE! it was only showing 4 out of the 15 she made.
Just to let you know that phone conversation ended up being 53 minutes and we are not done, going to tackle the situation on why its only doing 4 out of the 15 she made.
Anyway as trying to set a ringtone for her it kept prompting her that it was going to remove all her music from her iphone in order to sync her ringtones WTF!, trying to avoid that, was looking for a work around could not find one, I then had to click ok for itunes to remove all her music from the phone. I get passed that step, then its saying its going to delete 29 apps, and change some contact information in OUTLOOK on the computer, at this point i was remoted into her computer because explaining over the phone just got wayyy to difficult. Finally fixed the app issue, then got the ringtones to finally sync, THEN ALL THE RINGTONES WERE NOT THERE! it was only showing 4 out of the 15 she made.
Just to let you know that phone conversation ended up being 53 minutes and we are not done, going to tackle the situation on why its only doing 4 out of the 15 she made.
apple is right its not for everyone, adding rigntones would have no effect on the music or apps you did something wrong
i dont like picking mp3s as my ring becasue rarely do i want the first part of the song as the ring anways
this is correct, i remeber when i was with blackberry everyone on those forums whined to want things like apple, now that i have a iphone i read people whining that that want things the other phones do
Which is fine thats why the ringtone editor comes into play. Also, it was her computer i dont know what she could have done wrong besides her adding her music to her iphone, then trying to sync some ringtones and with that message popping up and actually getting rid of her music.
Also itunes is a whole other rant, which i wont get into since i am not forced on using that.
Also iApples your answers are very uninformative, and childish at that. Dont worry about how many times i change my ringtone, if i wanted to change it every time you blink i can thats my business. There is my childish answer so maybe you will understand.
Last edited:
The user must have 'Sync Manually' selected. This applies to movies and music, but also ringtones (which are a form of music). So while the default is to sync automatically, if that setting gets changed, then music as well as ringtones need to be 'dragged' to the picture of the iPhone, under Devices.
If some ringtones transfer but others don't, the bad ones might be too long. They need to be under 40 seconds, but sometimes even 30.
Sure, no product is for everyone, but ringtones shouldn't be so hard. And iTunes has a lot of work to do... deleting everything just to add ringtones? It could at least say 'you have Manual syncing specified. If you wish to add items to your iPhone, drag them to the picture of the iPhone. If you choose Automatic, the contents will be replaced with the new items you select.' But really, a third, merge option, should be available. Perhaps the iCloud will be our savior.
Yea i was learning my way around itunes at that moment, i could not save the songs. So the best thign to do is turn auto sync off, and try and manually sync everything? is that in the main options? Ill also see how long those songs were.
I understood he said its so 2006, as in an old feature. Just like how flash with the camera was and old feature but took them forever to get with it, just like MMS was an old feature and it took them forever to get with it.
I'm just stirring the pot.
ScoobyDoo was one of my favorites as a kid and I refuse to grow up. I started using it on forums years ago and just stuck with it. Somebody already took ScoobyDoo here, hence the "Mc".
Wow, I'm really off topic. I'll go back to my room now and make some ringtones with GarageBand.