Apple relents, sanctions custom ringtones!

So how do you know if Apple has made a big policy change and snuck it through the back door? Is it because:
- Porcine aviation establishes itself as a viable transportation mechanism.
- Chicken entrails begin to dance and rearrange themselves into oracular shapes while you're fixing up some nice korma.
- Apple sneaks in a new technical support page adding a "Share > Send Ringtone to iTunes" option to Garage Band.
The answer is, if you've been playing along at home, three. One more blow against the official iTunes extortion and shakedown store.
Thanks Jerrod



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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
dan workman said 10:09AM on 12-14-2007
not just yeah. hell yeah.
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Nik Fletcher said 11:17AM on 12-14-2007
'One more blow against the official iTunes extortion and shakedown store."
Hai five! Time to install GarageBand once again me thinks.
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Ari B. said 10:22AM on 12-14-2007
Which version of Garage Band?
Will it just be ilife 08?
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Justin said 10:23AM on 12-14-2007
freakin' awesome!!!
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John Biggs said 10:26AM on 12-14-2007
And for us Windows saps?
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Eric said 10:49AM on 12-14-2007
sucka. . . ditto to A
Miranda Kali said 11:01AM on 12-14-2007
Ya keep using the same method that's worked since 1.1.2 was intro'd. Convert a file to m4a then just rename it to m4r.
What's cool about this GB instructional, is that it means a policy is in effect where Apple's okay with free, user customized, ring tones...
...Merry Christmas ya old savings and loan!! :)
A said 10:29AM on 12-14-2007
get a mac!
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brian said 10:31AM on 12-14-2007
Sweet! I've been meaning to make my own ringtone forever (with Rogue Amoeba tools or something) not because I need a jolt of "Oops I Did It Again" to liven up my day but because the default tones all SUCK! I've more or less gotten used to Sonar but really, what I want is a tone that sounds like a phone. Not a retro/ironic jangly old phone--thanks, Apple, but I had that about five years ago--just a regular old phone. Plus, this poor underpowered 400 MHz phone can't make ANY tone ascend, like every other phone I've ever owned for the last (5? 8? 10?) years, so I'll make an ascending version of it as well. I've gotten as far as recording my old phone ringing, just hadn't gone through the steps of exporting as a tone. (Plus I never sync.) But now that it's official, it'll be even easier and (hopefully) won't go away! Woo hoo!
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wilstev said 10:42AM on 12-14-2007
Been reading the blog for a while but never felt the need to comment. This one has caused me to practically go insane thinking about it. 1 is clearly 'when pigs fly' but what is the layman's version of 2?
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Eric Madrid said 10:55AM on 12-14-2007
I used garageband to make my ringtone and added it iFuntastic a long time ago, but this will be much easier. Awesome!
@ wilstev:
When guts dance.
SleeplessKn1ght said 10:55AM on 12-14-2007
I think it's "When chicken have teeth." That's the only thing I can find googling "When chicken idioms".
SleeplessKn1ght said 10:54AM on 12-14-2007
So does this mean I can import any song I have on my mac into GarageBand 08 and make it a ringtone, or does it have to be a song I create in GarageBand?
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Eric Madrid said 11:01AM on 12-14-2007
I just made a ringtone with a song I imported from a CD. So I think it should work with any audio created or imported with Garageband. It just needs to be a repeating section, 40 sec. or less.
David Chartier said 10:57AM on 12-14-2007
It's anything you can bring into GarageBand, including iTunes library songs but *not* songs purchased from the iTunes Store. GarageBand will balk at you when trying to import protected/DRM music files.
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Jeff Gates said 12:47PM on 12-14-2007
Could you get around the DRM by re-recording the snippet (with Audio Hijack or other program) and going from there? I would think the reduction in quality wouldn't really matter for a ringtone.
David Chartier said 12:50PM on 12-14-2007
Sure you can re-record the song or burn/reimport them. And you're right, for a ringtone, the quality is already going to be icky. Good call.
Jeff Gates said 8:11AM on 12-15-2007
Could you get around the DRM by re-recording the snippet (with Audio Hijack or other program) and going from there? I would think the reduction in quality wouldn't really matter for a ringtone.
matt said 11:13AM on 12-14-2007
if you burn an iTunes song onto a cd and then reimport it, you can then use it in GarageBand. At least, with the last version of GarageBand.
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bob_c_b said 11:11AM on 12-14-2007
Erica, you write the most inflamatory crap and your obsession with the iPhone is boring. I'm about to give up on TUAW, there are less annoying places (without Erica) to get the same Apple headlines this site gets.
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