How to create a (free) ringtone for iPhone

So you’ve got an iPhone but aren’t thrilled at the idea of paying a couple of bucks to your cell carrier for a ringtone? You’re not alone.

A few months back Sync covered how easy this was to do for BlackBerry users. Here we’ll go over the process for iPhones.

Keep in mind you’ll need a copy of the free iTunes software (version 8 or newer) and an unprotected song (no digital rights management) from your iTunes library.

Here we go:

1. Open up iTunes and choose the song you want to turn into a ringtone.
 
2. Right mouse-click on the song, select Get Info and then the Options tab.

3. Pick what part of the song you want as a ringtone by clicking the Start Time and End Time boxes. If you want the first part of the song, for example, you can leave Start Time at 0:00 and End Time is 0:20. Make sure your clip does not exceed 30 seconds. Click OK.

4. With the song still highlighted, click on the Advanced tab at the top of the iTunes screen and select Create AAC Version. A duplicate song will show up in iTunes, but with your customized length (e.g. 20 seconds).

5. Copy this file to your PC’s desktop and delete the one in iTunes. Also, go back to the original song and uncheck those Start Time and End Time boxes.

6. On your desktop, rename this .m4a file to a .m4r file (e.g. Just Dance.m4r) and then drag and drop the audio clip back into your iTunes library and you’ll see it show up under the Ringtones folder on the left (if it’s not there to begin with, it will create the folder for you).

7. Now sync your iPhone to copy over the ringtone. To set it as your ringtone, tap Settings on your iPhone and then Sounds.  Now tap Ringtone and select your custom-made one. Now when you get a call, you’ll hear this song clip!