A Thinking Man

There are three ways of doing this.

There is the Official Apple way. In this way, you pay Apple for the privilege of downloading the song, and then you pay them again for the privilege of converting the song into a ringtone. Full details of how to do this can be found in the Apple manual. But there is another way that doesn’t cost as much.  And there is a way using free software.  I have detailed all three methods below.

Creating a Custom Ringtone - The Apple Way

From iPhone User Guide (http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iPhone_User_Guide.pdf)

You can create ringtones in iTunes using songs purchased from the iTunes Store. Your iTunes Store account will be charged for each ringtone.
Create a ringtone:

1. In iTunes on your computer, choose iTunes > Preferences and make sure Ringtones is selected (in the General pane).
2. Make sure you are connected to the Internet.
3. To identify the purchases you can use to create ringtones, choose View > View Options and then select Ringtone. (If a message appears, click Check Songs.)
4. To identify eligible purchases later, choose iTunes > Check for Updates.
5. Select the song you want to use and then choose Store > Create Ringtone.
6. Adjust the highlighted area at the bottom of the iTunes window to choose up to 30 seconds of the song.
7. To make the ringtone fade in or out, select either or both “fade” checkboxes.
8. To change the delay before the ringtone plays again, choose an interval from the Looping pop-up menu.
9. To listen to the ringtone, click Preview.
10. Click Buy.

Important: After you click Buy, you can change the ringtone’s name and other information, but you can’t select a different portion of the song. You can sync ringtones created with iTunes with any iPhone you own, and play them on up to five authorized computers. After you sync your iPhone, you can assign the
ringtone to one or more contacts.

Creating a Custom Ringtone - The Unofficial Way

1. Open iTunes. Make sure it is the latest software version.
2. Go to Edit, then Preferences, then General and make sure that the Ringtones box in the top half of the page is ticked. Click OK.
3. Click on Music and select the track you want to use part of for your ringtone.
4. Play the track. In the middle of the top of the iTunes bar there is an oblong box with bars dancing to the music.  Click on the arrow on the left of this oblong bar. This will bring up a time bar showing how many minutes and seconds have elapsed during the song. Make a note of the time of the start of the part you want to use for your ringtone, and make an note of the time of the end of your desired selection. You may need to play the track several times to get this right. Your selected part should be no more than 30 seconds maximum.
5. Right click the track and select Get Info, then select the Summary tab. At the bottom of the Summary box there is a Where section. Write down the location of the file, as you will need to be able to find it on your computer later.
6. Now, before closing the Get Info box, select the Options tab. Tick the Start Time and the Stop Time boxes and enter the values that you noted in stage 4 above. Click OK.
7. Right click on the track again and select Create AAC Version. This will create a duplicate version of the track under the original. If you have entered the time settings correctly (stage 6 above) the length of the track will be less than 30 seconds.
8. Right click on the duplicate version and select Delete. Yes, that is what I said. Right click on the duplicate version and select Delete. Allow the duplicate track to be removed from the iTunes library, but CRUCIALLY, select the button to KEEP the file (rather than have it put in the Recycle Bin).
9. Now find the deleted file using the information you wrote down in stage 5 above. It is usually in one of the artist folders under MyMusic/iTunes/iTunesMusic/.
10. You will probably find that there are two files with similar names to the one you want (you have created a duplicate of an original). By Right Clicking each track individually and then selecting Properties you should be able to see which is the smaller file. It is the smaller file that you want (less than 30 seconds of sound).
11. Once you have identified the AAC version of the track you want, right click on it and select Rename. Change the extension of the file from m4a to m4r. When you save this you will get a warning that this might change the file, but ignore this. (Remember, anything you do is being done on a duplicate.)
12. Go back to iTunes and under Library on the left hand side at the top, select Ringtones. Now drag your new m4r file into Ringtones.
13. Once your iPhone is connected, select the Ringtones tab on your phone in iTunes and tick the box to sync ringtones. Sync iTunes with your iPhone and your ringtone will be transferred to your iPhone.
14. On your iPhone select Settings, then Sounds, then Ringtone. Then select your new ringtone. If it isn’t there, check that you have created a ringtone that is less than 30 seconds, and that you have told iTunes to sync ringtones.

The Software Way

There is a wonderful piece of free software that does the job - ToneShop.

Tags: AAC, Apple, free, iPhone, iTunes, m4a, m4r, ringtones, software, Sync, ToneShop