Filed under: Hacks, How-tos, iPhone
iPhone Ringtones On The Cheap
The Steve may want you to cough up $2 for an iTunes track + ringtone but TUAW is watching out for your wallet. You already own the song. Use it the way you want. Here's a quick round-up of the ways you can save money on ringtones:
- SendSong: This utility lets you pick any song from your iTunes library and use it as a ringtone. Do not use iTMS-purchased tracks as ringtones.
Free iTunes Previews:See TUAW's guide to downloading iTunes previews and then use one of the following tools to install them. Remember that you may have to rename the extensions from .m4p to .m4a.- Windows Ringtones: Use iBrickr (free) or iPhoneRingtoneMaker ($10). You pick the song, they install them.
- Mac Ringtones: On the Mac, grab a copy of iFuntastic (free, but a wee bit unstable) or iToner ($15). These too turn your audio into free ringtones.
Get a WordPress.com Blog
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Kryptinite said 3:20PM on 9-05-2007
I've been using SendSong for a about a day and I'm totally happy with it. here's to not updating your phone!
Reply
iMatt said 3:21PM on 9-05-2007
If your files are DRM-free, you can crop and edit them to ideal ringtone length with Fission by Rogue Amoeba (not free, but very nice), Audacity, or Amadeus.
Reply
Mitch said 3:21PM on 9-05-2007
#2 + iFuntastic works great.
The iPhone default ringtones are weak. Roll your own!
Reply
james said 3:31PM on 9-05-2007
hell yeah, tuaw! screw paying an extra buck for a song you already own just to hear it a different way. here's to the small apps that make customizing happen!
Reply
iMatt said 3:43PM on 9-05-2007
I tried iToner this weekend, and was really pleased with its intuitive UI and smooth operation.
Reply
Mike said 3:48PM on 9-05-2007
I downloaded the trial of iToner over the weekend. It works great. Was waiting for today's anouncements before I paid for the full version.
iToner: your $15 is on the way.
I will not give Apple one more cent of my money! 99cents to make a 30 second clip of A SONG I ALREADY OWN! F-you Apple.
Oh, and...one more thing....about all those people who come up to me in the airports to ask me how I like my iPhone...well I will now point out to them all the things that do not work - like how I can hardly get through 30 minutes of music while on safari before a crash. I will tell them the keyboard sucks. I will tell them EDGE is useless. I will tell them to not waste their money becuase they will be free by Christmas. The days of free advertising ARE OVER!
Reply
scralpha said 4:00PM on 9-05-2007
I won't go as far as Mike, but I do feel really screwed by this as someone who helped make the iPhone the success it is by buying it at full price close to it's launch. I bought it because I believed it was worth it at the time, and I still do.
Take me for $200 bucks because I fell into the hype, fine. I knew what I was getting. But bleed me for a license fee for a song I already paid for on top of it? Come on. That's going too far. Apple is now like the hottest, sweetest girlfriend you ever had suddenly deciding to get her brother and his buddies to rob your apartment and leave you bleeding in the street. This is a sad day, friends, a very sad day.
Reply
stickybit said 4:10PM on 9-05-2007
I'm not sure it's a sad day, but I choose iToner over paying 2x for a song, and no "hack" required.
Reply
Kyle said 4:08PM on 9-05-2007
Or, one can simply create a ringtone in iTunes itself.
1) Open iTunes and go to iTunes > Preferences > Import
2)Change import setting to MP3.
3) Pick song.
4) Play song and write down the starting second and ending second of the 30 seconds you want as the ringtone.
5) Get Song Info > Enter start time and end time
6) Play song to confirm your selection
7) Advanced > Export to MP3
8) Use Bluetooth to transfer new MP3 (cropped song, essentially) to phone.
Reply
scralpha said 4:10PM on 9-05-2007
@Kyle:
iPhone doesn't do Bluetooth file transfers. You'll need a third party hack to get that file to your phone.
(This gets better and better, eh?)
Reply
stickybit said 4:29PM on 9-05-2007
How about replace Kyle's step 8 with:
8. Sync using iToner
for the iPhone it's an easy and hack-free solution.
Reply
Kyle said 4:39PM on 9-05-2007
@scralpha
Wow, thanks for that clarification. Didn't think my Samsung t629 was better than the iPhone in any way.
Reply
dave said 5:11PM on 9-05-2007
i use www.mobile17.com you just upload your song and tell it when to start and stop and then they send it to your phone via a txt message and you go and download it from the site itself. Cheap and easy to use.
Reply
mingistech said 5:37PM on 9-05-2007
Just use Installer.app and install SSH with it.
Then you can use ur favorite FTP app to send songs to ur iPhone's ringtone directory..
(there are countless ways to do this)
Reply
Luigi193 said 5:55PM on 9-05-2007
Why don't you use audio hijack pro and get the 30 second previews in the itunes store.
Reply
Court Kizer said 6:21PM on 9-05-2007
FYI this has nothing to do with Steve Jobs and Apple. Last year the RIAA "snuck" into DMCA law that ringtones are considered separate, and that profits have to go to the record label. This means that if you own a song and turn it into a ringtone technically it's "illegal". This is the only reason Apple is requiring you to pay for ringtones. Once again the RIAA is screwing people over.
Please digg this comment so everyone can scream MURDER to the RIAA. Most people shouldn't worry, you can take your songs and turn them into snippets with all kinds of tools out there an upload them to your iPhone. My guess is iTunes will only let you modify songs you paid for the ringtones because of the stupid LAW that got passed.
SPREAD the WORD!!!
ALSO JUST google for mp3 ringtones, there are thousands of them out there, also check out howardforums.com
Reply
Eiland Meisje said 6:31PM on 9-05-2007
Makes no sense to me! First they drop $200 off of the iPhone, which they should give us folks who bought the iPhone 2 months ago, free incentives, ringtones, movies, songs, etc. Secondly, they are going to charge an additional .99 cent on top of the price for one song! Give us a break Apple, SERIOUSLY! I say just purchase iPhone Ring Tone maker or iToner for $14.99 and convert unlimited music, which means, all songs in any of your music libraries, CD’s or whatever and sync to your iPhone. I use the ring tone maker and it works superbly, and its not a hack! so its super easy to use.
Reply
Tim said 6:23PM on 9-05-2007
I'm not quite sure I understand some of the heated responses to Apple charging for ringtones.
Do you really think the music industry or RIAA will allow them to do it legally without charging extra for it?
I don't have an iPhone, but my current cellphone charges almost $4 for custom ringtones. It's just a luxury item that Apple is providing cheaper, and more flexibly, than most others do now. Personally, I'd be happy just to have the basic iPhone ring.
Reply
pradador said 6:28PM on 9-05-2007
Hell yea! Why pay Apple 3-5 dollars for the only ringtones I'll ever use when I can pay iToner $15 dollars or iPhoneRingtoneMaker $10 dollars!
At least with iTunes you can choose which 30 sec. segment to use rather than transferring the whole song. Usually the beginning of songs don't make good ringtones. Even the 30 sec. iTunes preview makes a better choice since they usually include the chorus.
Reply
stainboy said 8:29PM on 9-05-2007
i like iToner. well worth the money, like iMatt said it's easy and intuitive. and i already have Amadeus Pro -- a GREAT shareware sound editor, so i've had a lot of fun making my own ringtones.
of course you could also use Audacity to edit the sound files, but i don't know if it can open and save m4a files.
Reply