One of the simplest hacks prior to iPhone firmware 2.x and iTunes 7.7 was to create free custom ringtones for your iPhone.
A lot does not seem to have changed post iPhone firmware 2.x and iTunes 7.7 based on a step by step guide posted by theAppleBlog.
You check out the details of the ringtone hack after the jump.
This simple ringtone hack was first discovered by a Mac Rumors forums user almost a year back. It is based on the fact that iTunes differentiates a song file and a ringtone by the file extension. While we all know that the song file extension was AAC; the file extension for Ringtones is "M4R".
So all you need to do is take an m4a file which is DRM free and not more than 30 seconds, rename it to m4r and add it to iTunes.
You can check out this step by step guide (courtesy theAppleBlog) to create free custom ringtones for your iPhone using iTunes:
- In iTunes, right click on the song you are going to make into a ringer and select “Get Info.”
- Go to the options tab and go down to the “Start Time” and “Stop Time” check boxes. Check both boxes and input the time you want your ringtone to start/stop. The ringtone has to be 30 seconds or less. Click OK when you’re done.
- Right click on your newly “clipped” song and select “Convert
Selection to AAC.” The song will be re-encoded using the start and stop
times determined (If your menu item does not read “Convert Selection to
AAC” and reads “Convert Slection to MP3″ (or some other format) please
go to
iTunes > Preferences > Advanced > Importingand change the “Import Using” drop down menu to “AAC Encoder”). - After the song is done encoding navigate to your iTunes Music folder, locate your song, and drag it to your desktop. After the song is on your desktop go back to iTunes and delete the clipped version from you iTunes library (It won’t delete it from your desktop, it will only remove it from iTunes).
- Go back the song on your desktop and right click on your song and chose “Get info.” Go to the name and extension section and change the extension from .m4a to .m4r (or you can just change the extension right from your desktop)
- After the extension is changed simply double click on the file to add it to your iTunes library under the ringtones section. Sync your phone with iTunes and you’re done!
Folks at theAppleBlog have tested this method and found it to work with iTunes 7.7.1 and iPhone firmware 2.0.1 so should work with both first generation iPhone and iPhone 3G.
However, this method works only for songs which are DRM free. In case of DRM protected songs you can use this method published by LifeHacker.
Other than this method, we had also seen several methods to add custom ringtones for free for the old firmware including iPhone software which charged a one-time fee.
As always do let us know how it goes.
[via theAppleBlog]
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What next?
Here is a "much easier solution", it is also freeware. I tried it and it works great.
http://www.iringer.net
Well converting an mp3 to a .m4r you can get a full song as a ringtone and you dont need it to restrict to 30 secs..
I did that and placed it in the folder directly after SSHing so I can have a full song as a ringtone. so try it out
Almost forgot it is for Windows only. Sorry Mac users
u know u can create custom ringtones with garage band, and have them transferred to itunes..
Do you really need a whole song for a ring tone??? I mean 30 secs is plenty of time. Remember space is limited, besides won't your voice mail pick up before then?
When 30 secs is enough for some might be not for some ….and the voicemail doesnt act up at 30 secs ….well i prefer having the whole song or wateva instead of croppin it …tats wat im used to and i wanted tat on my iphone
Awesome info worked great! I got my ringtones BACK!!!
For us Windows users I just figured this way out, it probably isn't new, use WinSCP to ssh any m4a files into /Library/Ringtones then simply right click and rename the extention to m4r and they work, for good measure I changed the permissions on mine to 0755…btw I'm on 2.0
there is a site that i go to that makes custom iphone ringtones.
audiko.net
Everytime i make ringtones they always duplicate and there is like 5 of the same ringtones or however many ringtones i make
I did what was stated however theres no selection for "get info" once ive put the cut version on the desktop. I can only do things like properties..
Please help??
go to a folder, then click "tools" then "folder options", then "view" and uncheck "hide extensions for known file types". all your files will show the ".m4a" ect. change the "a" to a "r" and it will work.
(then check the box for "hide extensions for known file types" to bring everything back the way it was)
can anyone help me to stop the duplication of ringtones from showing up on my iPhone 3g
Anybody unable to do this in 2.0.2? I successfully added a custom ringtone before, but upgrading to 2.0.2 killed my phone and I had to do a restore, and now I am unable to see the ringtones on the phone.
They still show up under the Ringtones section of my iTunes library but it will not copy over to the iPhone with a sync, and I cannot drag and drop it manually either.
Mac users can just put the song into garage band, edit it, and export to iTunes as ringtone option.
Just thought id throw that out there.
It worked!!! I haven't been this excited since I bought the phone! I hope the next update doesn't squash this ability.
how do i make it my ringtone after i do all that i went to settings in the phone and clicked ringtones but its not there ???
simple. (Windows only in iTunes 7.7.1) all you have to do is find the song that you want, get iTunes to convert it to .mp4 (convert to .acc in iTunes) copy that file to a new location (ie. the .mp4 copy) delete the .mp4 from iTunes, go to where ever the .mp4 is and rename the file extension to .mpr (requires file extensions to be not hidden => unhide in folder options) copy the .mpr into iTunes then on to your iPhone.
this has worked for me many times and i got a iPhone 3G
How to make an iphone ringtone THE EASY WAY!!!?
i have been searching for days how to make a ringtone for the iphone well i now know how, without having to change to file type name as you cannot do this on vista, all you have to do is
1. go on this site and search for the song or tv theme, http://audiko.net/
2. click song and click download song for iphone
3. then click save (it will then save in itunes music)
4. then when the song is in there right click and click open with, then itunes
5. plug your iphone in and watch it sync DONE
so really quickly go on the webpage, download the song, save it to itunes music, open it with itunes and sync
ITS THAT SIMPLE IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS I WILL HELP IF I CAN, THANKS ALL
this was posted by david.b
Easiest, and free:
1. Open GarageBand (included at no charge on most Apple computers)
2. Select the music file you want from the media browser
3. Select your favorite 40 second segment
4. Save as Ringtone.
5. Sync ringtones with your iPhone
That's it.
Awesome App. I even donated the $10. I will use this a lot.