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starman · Sep 7, 2007, 08:51 AM

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=351495

Looks like Apple neglected to test this

Dakarʒ · Sep 7, 2007, 08:52 AM

That's so unbelievably simple it's hilarious.

scaught · Sep 7, 2007, 09:13 AM

That's great

kman42 · Sep 7, 2007, 09:26 AM

Didn't work for me. I duplicated the file and changed the extension to .m4r. I then double-clicked it and it opened itunes and started playing the song. I do have a ringtones tab now on the iphone screen, but the song doesn't show up there. What did I do wrong?

starman · Sep 7, 2007, 09:28 AM

It has to be an AAC (.m4a) file. It won't work with MP3 files.
Make sure you REALLY changed the extension. (Cmd-I).

kman42 · Sep 7, 2007, 09:47 AM

I was trying it with an .m4p file. Doesn't work. I'll try with an .m4a file when I get home.

kman42 · Sep 7, 2007, 09:52 AM

Okay, I tried it before I left, but it still isn't working. I duplicated a file and changed the .m4a extension to .m4r using the Get Info window and told it to change the extension when the dialog popped up. I then tried double-clicking the file and it just started playing the song in iTunes, no import. I then tried Import and Add File, but that didn't work either.

Something to do with sharing my Music Library and Music Folder with two user accounts, perhaps? Not sure why that would matter. I did get the Ringtone tab, but no songs are listed.

Dakarʒ · Sep 7, 2007, 09:55 AM

Is it possible there's a length or size restriction going on?

starman · Sep 7, 2007, 10:07 AM

That's what some people in the original thread are finding.

kman42 · Sep 7, 2007, 10:38 AM

From the original thread, it seems that many people on the Mac are having to remove the file from their iTunes library and re-add it. Can anyone confirm this? I'll try when I get home tonight.

parkds · Sep 7, 2007, 10:41 AM

The real challenge seems to be in figuring out how to delete them though.

kman42 · Sep 7, 2007, 11:05 AM

When it works, do you get the same song duplicated in your library or does it just change the tags on the original song?

icruise · Sep 7, 2007, 11:51 AM

I'm going to have to try this when I get home. I just hope that Apple intended this and that they won't change things so it stops working. I have absolutely no problem with Apple charging $.99 for ringtone versions of songs if we are allowed to make our own for free. I'm not just concerned with cost, but also with the fact that there are a lot of songs (and sound effects) that aren't available on the iTS.

mutelight · Sep 7, 2007, 02:40 PM

That is really funny, it does work perfectly!

theDreamer · Sep 7, 2007, 02:42 PM

Originally Posted by mutelight

That is really funny, it does work perfectly!

Would you share what file size, song length you used?
I am at work and have yet to test this, but seems others are having problems with size or maybe length of song. Also can it be a full song or does it need to be edited down to X number of seconds?

mutelight · Sep 7, 2007, 02:45 PM

Well almost all of my music is ripped at 320kbps and when I tried the full song at that bitrate, it did not work. What I did was re-encode it to 128kbps and put the entire song (about 5 minutes long) on and it worked.

theDreamer · Sep 7, 2007, 02:49 PM

Thank you.
The music I was going to use is at ~128, unless I want to use my classical files, but those are way way to long (15-20 minute songs).

Edit: So it must be a size or bitrate thing then.

-Q- · Sep 7, 2007, 04:16 PM

I'm betting this is unintended and will be 'fixed' within the week. Seems like a really obvious way to hurt sales.

Fred33 · Sep 7, 2007, 04:24 PM

Very cool find... working on it right now.

goMac · Sep 7, 2007, 05:06 PM

Originally Posted by starman

Looks like Apple neglected to test this

I doubt Apple cares. They probably want to do just enough to make the record companies happy.

::maroma:: · Sep 7, 2007, 06:00 PM

Originally Posted by goMac

I doubt Apple cares. They probably want to do just enough to make the record companies happy.

They probably don't care, unless part of the deal with the record companies was to not allow this sort of thing to happen on the iPhone. I wouldn't be surprised if they "fix" (assuming its a problem) this soon. From an interview with Phil Schiller, he said something to the effect of that they had to double charge to make a song into a ringtone only because of the record companies stranglehold on DRM (I'm paraphrasing here). There are different rights whether you download a full song or make a song into a ringtone.

Anyway, I hope Apple doesn't change this. I am not a musical ringtone fan at all. I just want to be able to create my own simple sound for a nice ringtone, save it as the right kind of audio file and put it on my iPhone. Or at the very least, give me the ringtone that they use on the commercials! Damn false advertising.

Angelo78 · Sep 7, 2007, 06:05 PM

Well it's working for me when I convert a full song to AAC and change the extension to m4r, but I can't seem to get smaller clips from songs to work. I have one ringtone I've been using for the past year and it will show up in the list with-in iTunes but doesn't load on the phone. For the record, it worked just fine using iToner but now that isn't functioning the way it was before. Thankfully there's a fix coming soon. With iToner you can use both AAC files and MP3 files at any bitrate which is nice.

icruise · Sep 7, 2007, 06:12 PM

I just tried this and it seems to work fine. Too bad iToner was only useful for about a week...

By the way, I've noticed a potential problem with musical ringtones. If you're listening to music on your iPhone and you get a call, it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish the ringtone coming on from an actual song that your iPhone is switching to (especially if you have your music shuffled). This is particularly true if you have a number of ringtones aside to different people, and if you have the actual songs for those ringtones on your iPhone. Anyway, something to think about.

starman · Sep 7, 2007, 06:38 PM

I haven't had that problem. The song you're listening to fades out, the ringtone starts. It always seems obvious to me.

theDreamer · Sep 7, 2007, 10:13 PM

Just got done doing this.
Took me awhile because of some issues with Windows XP, but I got it done. Was able to upload a 5 minute song at 192 in AAC.
If anyone has problems with windows let me know.

icruise · Sep 7, 2007, 10:31 PM

By the way, I found it helpful to rename my custom ringtones with a dash (-) at the start of the name so they'll all be together at the top of the list (although Marimba always comes first, interestingly).

theDreamer · Sep 7, 2007, 11:06 PM

New iTunes update, this feature no longer works.

icruise · Sep 7, 2007, 11:12 PM

Lame!

theDreamer · Sep 7, 2007, 11:15 PM

Now my question is, I have my one song I got on there will I lose this song.
So far just updating iTunes has not made me lose that one song, but will have to wait and see, iPhone update will probably kill it.

goMac · Sep 7, 2007, 11:40 PM

Originally Posted by theDreamer

New iTunes update, this feature no longer works.

I take it back, Apple seems to care.

MacinTommy · Sep 8, 2007, 12:01 AM

Originally Posted by theDreamer

New iTunes update, this feature no longer works.

So when do the little bells show up?

Stogieman · 01:51 AM

Originally Posted by icruise

Lame!

LOL! Someone found work around to the 7.4.1 update. Just change the extensions back to .m4a. I can confirm that this works!

Make custom iPhone ringtones work with iTunes 7.4.1

moki · Sep 8, 2007, 06:15 AM

Originally Posted by theDreamer

New iTunes update, this feature no longer works.

iToner 1.0.1 continues to work with iTunes 7.4.1, for what it's worth.

sph · Sep 8, 2007, 10:05 AM

Works perfectly. thanks!

mutelight · Sep 8, 2007, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by Stogieman

LOL! Someone found work around to the 7.4.1 update. Just change the extensions back to .m4a. I can confirm that this works!

Make custom iPhone ringtones work with iTunes 7.4.1

That is great.

theDreamer · Sep 8, 2007, 10:26 AM

Glad to see a work around still working.
So what is the difference in the extension now? .m4r v. .m4a?

Angelo78 · Sep 8, 2007, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by moki

iToner 1.0.1 continues to work with iTunes 7.4.1, for what it's worth.

Yes it does and that's what I'll continue to use. Going back and forth with the file extensions is becoming a bit old. I'd rather just drag and drop the ringtones, as it should be. Plus, the partial song I use for a ringtone always works with iToner while the extension work-around only accepts full length songs.

Thanks again!

theDreamer · Sep 8, 2007, 11:10 AM

With iToner, do i have to use bits of a song or can I use a full song?

amazing · Sep 8, 2007, 11:29 AM

Has anyone tried using something like Audacity or WireTap Pro to capture shorter snippets of tunes, convert and rename them properly and use them as ringtones?

Space being of premium value, you don't need 5 minute long ringtones.

icruise · Sep 8, 2007, 11:30 AM

FYI, I was able to use partial songs with the extension trick.

AC Rempt · Sep 8, 2007, 11:33 AM

I used a full song without trouble using iToner, but it the song was only 30 seconds long, or so. I also made a custom ring tone off of a riff, and it goes for about a minute.

iToner just moves your files over the iPhone to use as a ring tone. You have to edit the file if you want it to be different from a straight out song. I used GarageBand to do this, but apparently you can use QuickTime as well. If there is any limits, I think they have to be on the iPhone end, or with the .m4r format.

Angelo78 · Sep 8, 2007, 11:49 AM

Yes you can use both full length and smaller clips of songs with iToner, and apparently the extension trick as well...thanks icruse. For some reason the clip I have wouldn't work on the iPhone when I converted to AAC then changed the extension.

amazing, I used wiretap to convert one of my ringtones. It worked just fine. For the highest quality I think using garageband, quicktime or even iTunes would be best. My reasoning is the song never gets re-encoded that way...you just take a small part of the song and copy it to its own file. I could be wrong about the quality issue though. And honestly, in the end, it is a ringtone and the quality doesn't need to be top quality. So I guess we all have a few option that will work well.

I prefer 30-50 second clips because certain parts of a song often work better for a ringtone than starting it at the beginning. Doing that also keeps the file size to a minimum which is nice.

moki · Sep 8, 2007, 01:31 PM

Originally Posted by theDreamer

With iToner, do i have to use bits of a song or can I use a full song?

Currently, no, you'll need to edit the songs in GarageBand, Audacity, QuickTime Pro, etc. An obvious feature for us to work on, though, would be allowing you to choose a portion of a song to use as a ringtone.

moki · Sep 8, 2007, 01:34 PM

On a side note, I tend to prefer sounds for ringtones, as opposed to song. Just a personal preference. Though it is rather amusing to have an old TV show theme (like Magnum PI or Sanford and Son) play when someone calls, in an nostalgic sorta way.

Nodnarb · Sep 10, 2007, 11:41 PM

Originally Posted by moki

Currently, no, you'll need to edit the songs in GarageBand, Audacity, QuickTime Pro, etc. An obvious feature for us to work on, though, would be allowing you to choose a portion of a song to use as a ringtone.

Yes, please! Right now, I have to find songs that have a cool beginning, because I realistically only here the first 5-10 seconds of the tone before I answer it usually. Being able to use any portion of the song would be awesome!

theDreamer · Sep 11, 2007, 11:46 PM

Has anyone noticed the songs added are softer than the standard tones that come with the phone?
Is this just me?

I am on a PC doing the convert to AAC then renaming a few times, does converting to AAC create a set volume (other than what the iPhone settings I use)?

imemikey · Sep 12, 2007, 02:56 AM

if you updated to 7.4.1 after you made ringtones from 7.4 just change the file to m4a

theDreamer · Sep 12, 2007, 10:51 AM

Originally Posted by imemikey

if you updated to 7.4.1 after you made ringtones from 7.4 just change the file to m4a

On PC this works, but there is one more step (for at my friend and I).
We renamed the file, but then had to go into iTunes and under the Ringtone tab in Library, double click the file and link to the new .m4a file. Nothing huge, but my friend could not get the file to sync for awhile and me not being next to him could not figure out why. Then I remembered I had to relink the file because of the file extension change.

vmarks · Sep 13, 2007, 02:05 AM

Here's the easiest way I've found to do it, easier than iToner...

http://www.rogueamoeba.com/utm/archi...neRingtone.zip

Use that, and it does it all for you.

Use their Fission editor and you get really nice fade ins and outs.

http://www.rogueamoeba.com/utm/posts...07-09-12-12-00

I've made about 5 ringtones so far, and it works great in the latest itunes.

Aqua_Geek · Sep 17, 2007, 01:42 PM

Originally Posted by Stogieman

LOL! Someone found work around to the 7.4.1 update. Just change the extensions back to .m4a. I can confirm that this works!

Make custom iPhone ringtones work with iTunes 7.4.1

I can confirm that this works, too. I actually discovered this by accident before stumbling upon it here in the forums... I didn't even have to relocate the files in iTunes - it figured it out by itself. Now all we need is someone very adventurous to write an iTunes plugin to do all of this automatically. Any takers?