Creating Ringtones for the iPhone 3g for PC
posted by pylorns
In my previous tutorial I covered how to create ringtones using a Mac. Today I’ll cover creating ringtones using a PC and only free applications such as audacity. Download and install audacity and iTunes on your PC prior to doing this. I’m also using Vista but the same or similar screens exist for XP.
1. Open the piece of music or sound that you want to be your ring tone in Audacity and edit it down to under 40 seconds.
2. Go to File>Export and export the song as MP3. Audacity does not have the ability to export to AAC.
3. Give the file a unique name and save as .MP3
4. Once you have saved it you’ll next need to open the file in iTunes. Right click on the file and choose Open With>iTunes
5. Now that it is in iTunes you can convert it to iTunes native mp4 or AAC. Right click the file and choose Convert Selection to AAC
6. Now we need to rename this file to a ringtone format so browse to your iTunes music folder - in most cases its your default windows music folder.
7. By default windows Vista does not show file extensions. You’ll need to turn this off. Go to Tools>Folder Options. Un-check Hide extensions for known file types.
8. Once you have done this you should be able to change the file name to .m4r
9. Choose Yes that you are aware your computer will explode if you change the file extension.
10. Right click on the file and choose to open with> and choose iTunes.
11. Once you open it up in iTunes you should see it is now in its ringtone category. And you’re good.
Update: some of you have commented that you can’t move the song over to the iPod after it is created. You get a message like “unable to find file” others have had no problems.
First off when you get a message like that it is telling you something important. Try finding the location of where the file is supposed to be. Reimport it. Also you might verify that you renamed the file correctly by opening a command prompt and look at it in dos.
Tags: 3g, iphone, itunes, pc, ringtone, tutorial
Posted in iphone, music, tutorials |
July 20th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I tried this, and it seems to work. However, when I sync to my iPhone I get the message:
was not copied to the iPhone because it could not be found.
Despite the message, the ringtone still shows up both in iTunes as a custom ringtone on the iPhone.
July 20th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Its possible that iTunes is not auto-copying the file to its own location so it can move it to the iphone. I think you may have missed step 10 - try repeating that one more time - when you do that it will open directly from your ring tones and verify that you can play that piece.
July 21st, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Works, but damn I don’t know if this is worth the $2. Great idea for things that aren’t on itunes though.
July 21st, 2008 at 9:11 pm
True, but once you get into the rhythm, its not bad to do a couple ring tones.
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:18 am
I used to be able to do this on my old iphone (even after I went to 2.0). It doesn’t seem to work on my new iphone 3G. I am able to get through all the steps above. The ringtone shows up in my Ringtones folder and players when I open it up. However, it won’t sync onto my iphone 3G. I just want my ringtone to be my own dogs barking (have had that one for years now).
Any ideas
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:32 am
I have the same problem as two people here…
Do all the steps, including step 10 and when the sync is complete it says ” was not copied to the iPhone because it could not be found.”
Frustrating!
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:46 pm
most likely those of you who have the proble. Need to find the physical file and copy it and reimport it. Take a look at the other tutorial
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:29 pm
What other tutorial?
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:10 pm
yes, I did find the physical file, copy it, and reimport it. No luck with that either
July 24th, 2008 at 3:12 am
Same problem for me. As soon as I do step 10, itunes moves the .m4r file to another folder. The file shows up in ringtones but will not sync to the iphone b/c it says it cannot find the file. Even after reimporting and moving the file, it does not work.
July 24th, 2008 at 7:41 am
Latest version of iTunes?
July 24th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Works with me, use audacity 1.3 and use .wav file instead of .mp3. Thanks a bunch dude
July 24th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
I have done all the steps and it shows up in itunes under the ringtones folder, but it won’t sync to my iphone. It’s 12 seconds long, so not too long. Someone please help.
Thanks
July 29th, 2008 at 4:41 am
This whole website is the awesome! I am wondering about one of the comments on this post that i just read. I don’t see where it would be possible, but do you get charged for making a ring tone?
July 29th, 2008 at 5:24 am
im not gonna lie, i feel like that guy for asking that.
July 29th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
No, you are creating your own ring tone based on your own music, there is no charge. The only way you are charged is if you purchase a ringtone from a company.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Best site ever!
July 31st, 2008 at 12:41 am
Thanks A LOT!!!!! BEST THING I’ve come across!!!!
August 4th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
This all works except for the point where i drag my new ringtone into the Ringtones folder in iTunes. The new rings tones will not be added to the folder…what am i doing wrong?!
August 4th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Read above notes as to what others tried and responses.
August 7th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Hello this works but, For some reason the music as a ringtone sound really bad. I did one with 128 bitrate then 192 bitrate still sounds really bad. I go to my music in Itunes music sounds great even on iphone through the ipod. Can u help with this?
Thanks
August 7th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Hmm, I have not run into that - here is the question does it sound ok with your earphones?
August 9th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
AWESOME! Thank you much for this. Works like a charm. I just wish I could figure out how to assign different ringtones to different contact groups and to assign a custom ringtone to text messages.
August 14th, 2008 at 10:57 am
I am having the same problems as others…..shows up under ringtones but does not sync…..NO error message though…..just does not show up in the ringtones list on the phone…..suppose Apple slammed the door on this method?
August 14th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Figured it out…..ringtone was a bit too long. Trimmed it down usinf audacity and it worked fine. FYI…..Thanks for the article!
August 14th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Good deal. Welcome.
August 19th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
According to Apple customer service, the iPhone will not sync ring tones created in this manner even though they show up in iTunes. They say that you can only create ring tones by using their software Garage Band (although according to the Apple Store, this software is only compatible with a Mac).
August 19th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Lol, thats because they want you to buy the ringtones directly through them.
September 19th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
It is crucial for the ringtone after its converted to be no longer than 35 seconds or else it will not sync it to the iphone. it will show up in the library but it will not transfer to the iphone when its Synced due to the lenght of it.
September 30th, 2008 at 1:31 am
I did all the above steps, the clips are under 30 seconds and show up as ringtones in windows explorer, but do not show up as ringtones in iTunes. What’s going on?
September 30th, 2008 at 7:58 am
Try to re-import the file.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
i tried everything, did all the steps and tried re importing the file,, but still the file can’t be found. do i downgrade my itunes instead?
October 4th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Same problem for me here - tried saving it as mp3 and wav - then followed specific instructions above - once it saves as a ringtone it even plays it back once, and it shows up in the ringtone folder - but it won’t sync (or at least doesn’t show up on the phone when it finishes syncing)
October 5th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
see above comments, several people have come across same problem and got it to work.
October 7th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I know I am doing something stupid, but….how do i get the music in audacity from either itunes, or a cd????
November 1st, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Worked fine for me, thanks a million!!!
November 16th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Thanks, worked great for me. One reminder to everyone out there in Audacity export at a higher bit rate to get better sound.