I haven't done a tech-related post lately, so here's a fun one...
Want to make your own iPhone ringtones? Of course you do! Otherwise you'll end up using the cheesy options Apple gives you. (And really, who wants a quacking duck as their ringtone? NOT ME!)
Here's a step-by-step tutorial. First, always make sure you're using the most updated version of iTunes. Just makes sense to keep things updated, right? I'm using 10.2 (or something like that) for this tutorial. The next thing to remember is that the iPhone currently only allows for a 30 second ringtone, so, you'll need to find a song that has a 30 second section or chorus you like.
- Right-click on the song you want to make into a ringtone and select "get info". [For my sample, I'm going to go with Joe Nichols' "Gimmie That Girl".]
- Select the "options" tab and go to "start time" and "stop time". Check both boxes. Put the time you want your ringer to start and to stop. (Remember, the ringtone has to be less than 30 seconds). Click "OK". [For my sample, I'll have it start at 35 seconds and end at 59 seconds.]
- Right-click on your newly "clipped" version of the song and select "Create AAC Version". (This will only work for songs that aren't Digital Rights Management [DRM] protected songs. If your selected song is DRM protected, you'll have to use Garage Band to create an iPhone ringtone. HERE is a tutorial for doing it that way.)
- After creating the AAC version, go to your iTunes "Music" folder and locate the song. You should have two versions of the song now - the full version and the "clipped" version you've just created.
- Select the "clipped" version and drag it to your desktop.
- Go back to your iTunes Music folder, locate the "clipped" version of your song, and delete it.
- Return to the song on your desktop, and change the extension from .m4a to .m4r (select ".m4r" when the pop-up window asks which extension you prefer to use). [You can see the file in the lower right-hand corner on my desktop here]:
- Go back to your iTunes Music folder and find the original version of your song. Right click on it again, select "get info", go to the "options" tab, and be sure to uncheck the two boxes next to stop and start time (so the full-length of the song will play again).
- Double-click on the song on your desktop and iTunes will automatically load it into your ringtones folder. From there, all you have to do is connect your iPhone to your computer/iTunes and update your ringtones. [Sorry if you're offended by any of my ringtones listed in the photo below, but I'm not going to delete them for the sake of this tutorial because they are ringtones I actually use. ;o)]
If you have any questions, ask away in the comments!





