Create custom ringtones for your iPhone

You can use iTunes to create a ringtone, but the iPhone app Dring makes it easier.

Your iPhone lets you choose the ringtone that sounds when someone calls you. You can switch between the standard ringtones by tapping Settings —> Sounds —> Ringtone. If you want to have a different ringtone play when someone special calls, select a separate ringtone by locating that person in your Contacts and then tapping Edit —> Ringtone. The phone comes with 25 ringtones and you can purchase more through iTunes. However, Apple’s approach to selling ringtones is, to put it sweetly, ungenerous. You pay for each 40-second ringtone even if you’ve already purchased the full track from iTunes.

If you’re a conscientious objector to this double payment system, you don’t have to forgo the pleasure of adding ringtones. Instead, you can create your own tones using iTunes and a little footwork, or you can use an app like Dring to do much of the work for you.

Using iTunes

Ringtones are sound files in Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format. To create a ringtone from a track in your iTunes library, grab a snippet and convert it to AAC format. To do that, you’ll first need to make sure you’ve set iTunes to copy files using AAC:

Click Edit —> Preferences —> General tab —> ‘Import Settings’ button.
Select ‘AAC Encoder’ from the ‘Import Using’ drop-down box, then click OK twice.

Now you’re ready to create your ringtone.

Select any non-DRM-protected track in your music library.
Play the track and note the section you’d like to use as a ringtone. You’re limited to 40 seconds, so note the start and end time.
Right-click the song and select ‘Get Info’ from the context menu.
In the ‘Get Info’ dialog box, click Options.
Type the start time and end time in the appropriate boxes. Separate minutes and seconds with a colon; for example, Start Time 0:22 and End Time 1:02. Click OK.
Right-click the track and select ‘Create AAC Version’. A copy of the snippet you selected will be created.
Right-click the snippet, select Delete, click the Remove button in the first dialog box and then click ‘Keep File’ in the second dialog.
Right-click the original track from which you created the snippet and select ‘Show in Windows Explorer’. Your snippet will be located in the same folder, with the extension .m4a.
Change the snippet’s file extension from .m4a to .m4r. Click Yes when Windows asks if you’re sure you want to do this. At this point, you may also want to change the track’s name if it’s unwieldy.
Double-click the .m4r file and it will be added to the Ringtones section of iTunes. (Make sure that section is visible by clicking Edit —> Preferences and ticking Ringtones.)
Connect your phone and select it in the ‘iTunes Devices’, click the Ringtones tab and make sure ‘Sync Ringtones’ is ticked. Then sync your phone.

If you normally import songs into iTunes in anything other than AAC format, remember to click Edit —> Preferences —> General tab —> ‘Import Settings’ and select your preferred format to restore that setting.

Using Dring

There are a number of apps that make it considerably easier to create custom ringtones. Dring (www.wakeapps.com) is one of the standouts. It has a simple, elegant design and comes in a free version that lets you create 20-second ringtones, and a paid version that doubles that length while also letting you mix audio you’ve recorded with a music track.

To create a ringtone, choose a track from your music library. Drag the slider to adjust the starting point in the music and drag the two trimmers to select a portion of the track. To add an audio overlay, tap the audio switch at the top, tap the Record button and record your audio. To adjust the position of the audio on the selected snippet, drag the light blue audio band across the snippet. Add a fade if you want and then tap Save.

Once you’ve created your Dringtone, you can do either of the following.

Email it to yourself, save the attachment from the email onto your computer, open iTunes, double-click the saved ringtone and sync your phone.
Open iTunes and connect your phone, select your device, click the Apps tab, scroll down to ‘File Sharing’ and click Dring. Drag the ringtone onto your desktop, double-click it and then sync your phone.

The flexibility and simplicity of Dring makes it well worth the buck or two it costs for the full version.