iTunes Ringtones Feature Now Available
Announced last week, Apple has taken the wraps off the ringtone feature in iTunes 7.4. As expected, the process is very easy. Join us as we take a quick run through of creating ringtones through iTunes 7.4.1.
iTunes Ringtones Feature Now Available
Announced last week, Apple has taken the wraps off the ringtone feature in iTunes 7.4. As expected, the process is very easy. Join us as we take a quick run through of creating ringtones through iTunes 7.4.1.
iTunes will alert you that "You can create ringtones from many songs purchased through the iTunes Store". If you select the default "Check Songs", the application will check what music labels have cleared for use as ringtones. Surprisingly, I found the list of choices from my library to be somewhat small. I have a mix of songs purchased through iTunes and music imported from my CD collection. This new feature in iTunes will not allow you to create ringtones from your music imported from your CD's. For that, you'll need a 3rd party application such as iToner (Mac) or iPhoneRingtoneMaker (PC). A word of caution, as future iTunes updates could render those ringtones inaccessible. iToner 1.01 currently works with iTunes 7.4.1 and the developers of iPhoneRingtoneMaker are currently working on a compatible version.
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Choosing A Song For Your Custom Ringtone
iTunes added a handy column with a "bell" icon to represent the ability to create a ringtone from the iTunes Store. For this demonstration, I selected the remake of Under Pressure by The Used and My Chemical Romance. Before I was able to proceed, iTunes presented me with a new set of Terms and Conditions in order to purchase ringtones.
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Customizing Your iPhone Ringtone
With the agreement out of the way, I repeated the steps outlined and was presented with a new panel in iTunes. Here is where the fun starts. iTunes allows you to select a snippet of your song choice. You can expand the selection, use fade-in/fade-out and select the gap between the loop when your iPhone rings. As you are creating your iPhone ringtone, you can preview your selection at any time. The process is incredibly easy and you do not have to purchase the ringtone until you are pleased with your selection.
Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.
Purchasing Your iPhone Ringtone
Once I completed my editing and happy with my ringtone, I selected the "Buy" button. iTunes then place my new ringtone in the Ringtones section of my iTunes. Upon clicking on the ringtone, I had to authorize the computer in order to play the ringtone. I thought this was odd considering I had just completed purchase of the ringtone. It then informed me that "You have authorized a total of 3 machines out of your available 5". I can only guess that perhaps the iPhone is considered a "machine".
Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.
Getting Your New Customized Ringtone to the iPhone
A quick click on iPhone with iTunes and you'll notice a new tab for "Ringtones". From here you can change from the default state of All Ringtones to Selected Ringtones. For most, you'll be fine with All Ringtones, but the option is there if you do not want to copy all of your custom ringtones to your iPhone. Press Apply and that will complete the process.
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Using Ringtones on your iPhone
You can choose to set your default ringtone to your new customized ringtone.
- Press the home button
- Press Settings
- Press Sounds
- Press Ringtone and select your new ringtone
You can also use your new customized iPhone ringtone for a particular contact.
- Press the home button
- Press the Phone icon
- Press Contacts at the bottom
- Select the contact
- Press Edit at the top right
- Select Ringtone and select your new customized iPhone ringtone
Overall
As with most Apple solutions, the process of creating a customized ringtone is easy and I actually had fun creating a customized ringtone. There is a cost associated with this ease-of-use, but .99 cents seems fair for what is a very sleek solution (Note: If you do not currently own the song, then you'll have to purchase the song and ringtone for $1.98). If you only need to create a few custom ringtones, then look no further than iTunes for creating your custom ringtones. If you would like to create ringtones from music imported from your CD collection and/or prefer an expansive set of ringtones, than you should look at 3rd party applications such as iToner or iPhoneRingtoneMaker. For most, the iTunes ringtone solution will prove to be more than adequate to customize your iPhone ringtones.
