ringtone posts

Filed under: Accessories, Software, iPhone

iRingPro offers more tones, improves favorites

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Aug 26th, 2009

Last year I wrote about iRingPro, a group dedicated to bringing "ringtones for adults" to the iPhone. At the time they had one set of 27 tones available simply called "Zen," and they really do sound good. In fact, I still use them today ("Tokyo Station - Hi" Is my favorite).

Most feature a series of unobtrusive tones followed by a brief pause. If you've ever been annoyed by the guy whose phone unexpectedly blasts "Enter Sandman," then the Zen tones are for you.

They've recently updated the Zen series to include longer pauses between tones. Additionally, they've introduced two new collections, "Origin" and "Tek." Each collection contains between 22 and 31 tones featuring brief silent pauses and another full set with extended silent pauses in either MP3, iPhone for Windows or iPhone for Mac format. I must admit that I'm quite tempted by the Origin pack.

It's true that you can make your own classy tones with GarageBand, but these sound great and won't embarrass you when your phone goes off at a PTA meeting. Each bundle costs $9.95. If you purchased the original Zen set and were wise enough to save your receipt, you can upgrade to Zen 2 for free.

Tags: garageband, iphone, iringpro, ringtone, software

Filed under: Multimedia, iPhone

iRingPro offers "professional" ringtones

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Dec 5th, 2008

Like many of you, I love the convenience and fun of owning a mobile phone. However, I detest loud and obnoxious ring tones, not to mention the disappointment of a great conversation interrupted by an ear-shattering rendition of The Hamster Dance.

I'd prefer it if people used their phone's (least annoying) default tone, but I know that some users can't resist fiddling around. Here's hoping those people will check out iRingPro.

Billed as "...smart, attractive, livable alerts," these aren't your nephew's ringtones. Instead, you get a serene but noticeable series of notes that won't elicit strange looks in the board room. Additionally, the pause between repetitions is longer than most, eliminating that sense of "I've got to answers this now!" urgency. There are few samples you can check out on the site, and they're quite nice.

A collection of 21 tones in M4R format will run you $9.95US. Please, if you're the downloading type, consider iRingPro.

Alternatively, you can try your hand at making your own classy tones with GarageBand.

[Via The Iconfactory]

Tags: iphone, iringpro, ringtone

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, How-tos, Tips and tricks, Odds and ends, Freeware, iTunes, iPhone

Creating a ringtone using only iTunes

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Oct 6th, 2008

Remember the days when getting a ringtone up on the iPhone was about as hard as, say, fixing the economy? There were all kinds of programs you had to mess around with, and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't, and most of the time, it just wasn't worth the trouble. Cut ahead a year from those days of yore to right now, and look at this -- all you need to get a ringtone of almost any song you want is iTunes itself.

If you want to do anything more fancy, you'll need GarageBand (and you've got it anyway, so follow Steven's guide if you'd rather do that), but as CNET shows, iTunes will let you choose the start and stop times of a song, and converting to AAC from mp3 will let you cut it down to just those times. Pull it out of iTunes, rename the extension, drag it back into iTunes (making sure to delete the version that's already in there), and voila, custom ringtone.

Note, however, that it doesn't work for music with DRM on it, but it does work for music you rip from a CD. One favor to ask, though: don't really put Young Jeezy on your ringtone -- those 'tones are obnoxious. How about a little Miles Davis instead?

Tags: iphone, itunes, ringtone, start-stop, start-time, stop-time, tip

Filed under: Software, iPhone

iToner 1.0.8 ready for iPhone 2.0

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Jul 11th, 2008

iToner is Ambrosia's application that makes it easy to put free ringtones on your iPhone. Because really -- paying for ringtones is ridiculous.

It works without hacks or tricks. Simply drop any MP3, AAC, WAVE, or AIFF audio file onto the application's window and boom! You're done.

Ambrosia released version 1.0.8 this week, which offers compatibility with the iPhone 2.0 software. Other changes include

Support for iTunes 7.7
Japanese localizaton

A single license will cost you $15US and requires Mac OS X 10.4.10 or later. Of course, you can always make your own rigntones for free with GarageBand.

[Via Ars Technica]

Tags: ambrosia, garageband, iphone, itoner, ringtone

Filed under: iPhone

iToner 1.0.7 is available

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Jun 7th, 2008

iToner by Ambrosia Software lets iPhone owners put an unlimited number of custom ringtones onto their phones with no hacks and no per-ringtone fees. We've written about iToner several times, and interviewed Ambrosia's president Andrew Welch about the future of the product.

This week, iToner 1.0.7 was made available. Changes include:

Fixes with iTunes compatibility. iToner should no longer prevent iTunes from removing iTMS ringtones.
Fixed crash when syncing with iPod touch from iTunes
Various fixes and enhancements

iToner allows for drag-and-drop ringtone sync, support for MP3, AAC, WAVE, and AIFF files and the ability to assign specific ringtones to certain contacts.

This is a free upgrade to registered users. iToner costs $15US, requires Mac OS X 10.4.10 or later, and is a Universal Binary application.

Tags: ambrosia, iphone, itoner, ringtone

Filed under: How-tos, iPhone

The "missing" iPhone ringtone

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Apr 30th, 2008

We've all seen the iPhone ads. As my wife says, "I get it! The iPhone is for sale! I GET IT!"

Like I said, we've all seen them.

None are identical, but most have something in common. Namely, that peculiar ringtone. We call it peculiar because it isn't actually included with the iPhone. Luckily, most of us have it installed on our computers already.

As LifeClever points out, those with iLife '08 installed can find the ringtone in

/Library/Audio/Apple Loops/Apple/iLife Sound Effects/Work - Home/Cell Phone Ringing.aif.

Converting it to a ringtone is simple. First, drag a copy to your desktop. Launch GarageBand and import the clip. Next, click the Cycle Region button and drag the yellow indicator to the end of the clip.

Finally, select "Send ringtone to iTunes" from the "Share" menu and you're all set. If that seems like too much work for you, just download the file as a ringtone here. Incidentally, there are a lot more sound files in Loops directories that would make good ringtones as well.

Tags: advertisment, iphone, ringtone

Filed under: Audio, Software, iPhone

RingtoneFeeder supplies your iPhone with ringtones

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Apr 29th, 2008

Here's a new way to fulfill your ringtone lust. RingtoneFeeder is a paid subscription service ($1.98US/mo. or $19.98US/year) that allows you to download brief songs and other audio files to use as ringtones on your iPhone. Once you're subscribed, a new ringtone will be sent to your machine one a week via iTunes.

From there, you can easily make a Smart Playlist (kind = ringtone) and you're all set. All of the ringtones you'll receive from RingtoneFeeder are created by Geoff Smith, whom you may remember from Adam Curry's Daily Source Code Podcast.

Of course, you can create your own ringtones for free (what's the difference between a "ringtone" and an audio file, anyway?). For example, create a file in GarageBand (40 seconds max) and select "Send ringtone to iTunes" from the "Share" menu. Note that you can only use unprotected audio files for this process (Unless you strip the DRM. We would never suggest doing that!).

For those of you who couldn't be bothered, check out RingtoneFeeder.

Tags: iphone, ringtone, ringtonefeeder, software

Filed under: Humor, Multimedia, Software, iPhone

CTU ringtone for iPhone

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Dec 17th, 2007

Just last night we were chatting about ringtones on the Talkcast, and I mentioned that I was so happy with my iPhone that I hadn't taken steps to change either the ringtone or the wallpaper yet-- that Xylophone ringtone is probably the best ringtone I've ever heard.

Until now, anyway. Matt Devost used that GarageBand tip posted by Apple to turn none other than the CTU ringtone from tv series 24 into an easy-to-install, ~~completely~~ (mostly-- who owns this ringtone? did Fox make it up?) legit iPhone ringtone. Yes, you too can have your iPhone sound just like the phones at Jack Bauer's place of employment.

And this also illustrates just how easy it is to make these things now. Matt says he just put this together in GarageBand, and then followed Apple's doc, and all I did was drag it from my Desktop into my iTunes ringtones folder. Super simple. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I hear my phone ringing. Must be the President wanting to know how the hostage situation is going.

Tags: 24, apple, easy, garageband, iphone, jack-bauer, ringtone, simple

Filed under: Hacks, Mods, iPhone

iFuntastic: GUI iPhone custom ringtone manager

by Mat Lu (RSS feed) on Jul 24th, 2007

Let me preface this by saying I haven't tested this myself and you should read the warnings before you try this.

Some rather complicated instructions for installing custom ringtones on the iPhone have been floating around the net of late. Unfortunately they required some pretty involved under-the-hood tinkering. The newly released iFuntastic is designed to simply this process immensely. This little program allows you to install and manage custom ringtones just by selecting them in a GUI. There is a warning that after using this iTunes won't automatically launch when you dock your iPhone, but you can still sync manually.

iFuntastic is a free download, but you will have to register at modmyiphone.com

Thanks, Kyle!

Update: Direct link (no registration required). iFuntastic is Intel only.

Tags: iFuntastic, iPhone, ringtone

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