iPhone ring tone hack.
by Webantix on Jun.04, 2009
I’m sure there are hundreds of tutorials on how to do this on the net, but I could only find products selling the service. Below is how to change one of your tracks on your iPhone into a ring tone for free.
First you have to pick your song.
Once you have decided right click on that song and click on get info.
A pop up will appear with all the songs info in it. If you click on the Options tab you will see start and stop times. You can play around with these times to get the snippet of music you want as your ring tone. you can play around with it down to the millisecond to get that perfect piano or guitar rift for your ring tone.
The correct syntax for the time will be mm:ss.ms so if i want to start 1 minute and 30 seconds into the song i would put 1:30.0
You can miss off the milliseconds if you are not that bothered i just like my ring tone to be perfect. The one rule you have to stick to though is that the song can only be 30 seconds long.
Once you have played around with this you will need to create a copy of your song. Two reasons for this. First you will need to change the file type for this to work and also you don’t want to only have a 30 second track instead of your original track.
Ok to create the copy of your file you will want to go to advance and click on Create AAC version. This will then put another song in you play list which will be 30 seconds long. Drag this onto your desktop (Or any where you save this stuff). Now you will have to just change the file type from an .m4a to a .m4r file type. To do this we will go into the command line.
To do this in XP go to start then run, in the pop up box type cmd. in Vista in the search bar type cmd. Once this has launched this will give you the black command line box.
Change your directory to the Desktop by typing “cd Desktop”
Once you are in the correct folder type “dir” to make sure you can see the file. If you can type in the following command.
copy “Your Music File.m4a” “Your Ringtone File.m4r”
for the “Your Ring tone File.m4r” file you can name it what you want as long as it has .m4r on the end. If your file does not have spaces you will not need the “” wrapping the file name.
OK now you have your ring tone on your desktop time to drag it back into iTunes but make sure you drag into the ring tones menu.
Sync your iPhone to upload the ring tone. Once it has synced you will be able to set your ring tone on your iPhone. To do this go to Settings then Sounds and then Ring tone. You should now see your ring tone under Custom.
OK you think you are done right?? Wrong!!
Now you need to go back to iTunes and fix the original song so it is not 30 seconds long. To do this just go back to the songs options in Get Info and untick the start and stop times.
Now you are all done. Enjoy your new iPhone Ring tone.
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September 11th, 2009 on 6:24 pm
Thanks, great instructions and I have created my own ring tones no problem.
I noted though that there seems to be a minimum length for a ring tone (10 secs approx.)
Thanks again
Dave
September 16th, 2009 on 7:15 am
Hi Dave,
There is a limit of 30 seconds. Not sure why you are experiencing only 10 Seconds of ring tone. Does the ring tone play in full on your PC?
November 19th, 2009 on 6:33 am
Hello, I found your site when i was searching for pages related to ringtones. I must tell you, your site is good. I like the logo too, its pleasing. I don’t have much time now to slowly read your site but I have bookmarked it and I also subscribed for your RSS feed. I will be back in a day or two. Thanks for an informative website.
February 3rd, 2010 on 2:47 pm
Hi there. Seem to be getting stuck after opening the black command line box. Wonder if you could help? Cheers.
February 4th, 2010 on 12:13 pm
Hi Phillip, Make sure that you have saved your file to the desktop. If it is not on your desktop you will have to navigate to the correct folder.
HTH
February 5th, 2010 on 9:17 am
Its worked now thanks! Although, now i cant sync it onto the phone? Its in ringtnes and is there but just wont upload onto the phone. Any ideas why? Thanks.
February 8th, 2010 on 6:51 am
It may be in the list of Ringtones but is it turned on to sync on to your phone in the iTunes phone menu.
In iTunes click on your phone on the left hand side menu. You will then see tabs across the top. One will be ringtones, select “Sync ringtones” tick box and then re sync your phone.
February 9th, 2010 on 11:37 am
Hi. It has worked now. Thankyou. Very helpful!
April 12th, 2010 on 1:30 pm
Hi done all the above & ringtone plays in itunes, but like phillip having trouble sync to my phone. do you have to sync a couple of times till it works?
April 19th, 2010 on 11:02 am
Hi Rich,
Make sure that the tick box in iTunes under your iphone/ipod > ringtones is ticked. By default the sync ringtones tick box is turned off.
May 31st, 2010 on 7:37 pm
hi, i tried to do this, but when
i click on advanced, the create acc version is grayed out so i can’t use it. am i doing something wrong?
May 31st, 2010 on 7:50 pm
i figured it out, i was doing it for the song in my iphone instead of the song in my library. hopefully i can do the rest right lol
May 31st, 2010 on 8:42 pm
ok i’m stumped again lol. it keeps saying that my file isn’t recognizable
June 1st, 2010 on 9:30 am
at what stage of the process are you stuck?? I had an issue the other day after upgrading to the newest version of OS which could only be fixed by clicking the sync all ringtones but unclicking every ringtone in the list. Once it was synced add each ringtone in and it started working again.
Very Wierd!!
June 1st, 2010 on 6:45 pm
hi,
i’m stuck at the part where i’m suppse to change my directory. i get an error message saying that it’s not recognizable as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
June 2nd, 2010 on 4:38 am
Hi Lori,
I think you may be including the quotes (“) in the command. Can you try typing just
cd Desktop
this should fix the issue. If it does not can you post the exact command you are typing to create your error message.
June 3rd, 2010 on 9:20 pm
it worked!!!! thanks!!
June 21st, 2010 on 9:55 pm
ok so i’ve done everything like before and i’ve got the format changed to a ringtone and in my itunes library, but for some reason this time i can’t drag it into my iphone from the itunes library and i can’t sync it with my iphone. am i doing something wrong or is it maybe my phone or itunes acting up?
thnx
July 19th, 2010 on 7:28 am
Hi
Sorry for the delay in replying. Try the resynching with instructions I posted a couple of comments ago. basically sync with ringtones ticked but all ring tones unselected then try again.