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By TheGeek on July 31, 2009 via http://www.demogeek.com/2009/07/31/how-to-add-custom-ringtones-to-your-iphone/

The courterpart Windows guide is: http://www.softdiggs.com/howto/create-custom-iphone-3gs-ringtones-using-itunes.php

Note: If you want to avoid the trouble of making iPhone ringtones following the steps below, you can get this Mac iPhone Ringtone Maker to help you get ringtones for your iPhone on Mac OS.

Easily add custom ringtones to your iPhone using iTunes

The default ringtones that comes with the iPhone are pretty basic and blank. You can, instead, use your own piece of music as a ringtone on your iPhone. All you need to get this done is an iPhone, Connector Cable and iTunes.

Follow these (simple) steps to add a custom ringtone to your iPhone,

Start by choosing the .mp3 file that you’d like to have a piece of it as your ringtone. Remember that you cannot keep the full mp3 file as your ringtone, instead you can trim a portion of it to be used as a ringtone. The maximum allowed length of the ringtone can be less than 30 seconds.

Open the .mp3 file in iTunes. Right-click the .mp3 file and choose “Get Info“.

Once the Get Info dialog comes-up navigate to the Options tab. If you are using a short .mp3 file as your source then you might not want to touch any of the settings on this tab. But if you trying to extract a portion of the .mp3 file then you wanted to key-in values for the “Start Time” and “End Time” items. Keep in mind that the total length of the ringtone can only be less than 30 seconds.

How do you know the start and end times? Well, if you have Audacity installed then you should be able to grab the start and end time of your clip using Audacity’s trim feature.

Now we are ready to convert the file to a more friendly format that .mp3. Right-click on the same file again and choose the “Convert AAC Version” option.

If you don’t see the option on your right-click menu then go to iTunes > Preferences > General Tab and click on the “Import Settings…” button. Change the “Import Using” dropdown menu to “AAC Encoder“.

Once the file is converted to AAC version it generates a .m4a file. Drag the file to your Desktop (or any other location that you prefer).

Rename the .m4a file to .m4r file. If you have any questions on how to do it the safest way to do is to right-click the .m4a file and choosing the “Get Info” option.

On the dialog that comes up change the extension of the file to .m4r and confirm the rename.

Before you proceed any further you should remove the AAC version of the file that’s on your iTunes.

Now, move the .m4r file that’s on the desktop to the Ringtones folder on iTunes.

Now it’s all pretty much set for you to make use of the custom ringtone. Connect your iPhone and do a Sync.

Once successfully synced, tap on your iPhone Settings app.

Tap on the “Sounds” option.

Then tap on the “Ringtone” option.

iPhone will now display the list of available ringtones and you should be able to see the newly added ringtone at the top of the page under the “Custom” section. Tap on the ringtone name to choose the ringtone as your default iPhone ringtone.

That’s all to it to get a custom ringtone on your iPhone. It may look like a lot of steps involved but basically it’s pretty simple and if you focus a little bit you can get it right on your first attempt and then you’ll love having the ability to make your own custom ringtone for your iPhone.

I hope you find it useful. If you have any questions/comments regarding this please let me know in comments.