-Brian Tong here with cnet.com and with the release of iTunes 10, Apple has removed the ability for you to make custom ringtones for 99 cents you're your purchased music, but there's no need to stress because you can still make ringtones for free using just iTunes 10 for the Mac and PC.
Now, first thing, this will not work with older music purchased from the iTunes Store with DRM on them, but it will work with MP3s, AIFF files, and
unprotected AAC files like music purchased from the iTunes Store today.
Now, if you're not sure what type of music files you have, right click on this bar and select "Kind" and a column will appear to show you.
So, let's find a song like this one that I wanna turn into a ringtone, right click on the song and select "Get Info", a window will appear with track information, and you want to select the "Options" tab and look for the start time and stop time settings, click on the boxes next to those settings for now.
I already know where I want my ringtone to start
and for this song, I'll start it at the beginning and go until the 30-second mark.
There's a 40 seconds' max duration for iTunes ringtones.
Now, once, you've set the time, press "OK" then go to "Advanced" on the main menu bar and select "Create AAC Version".
iTunes will create the shorter version of your song below the original track and you wanna drag and drop that version onto you desktop to make a copy.
Now, there's a little housekeeping we need to take care of.
If the option to "Create AAC Version" is not available, go into your preferences and in the "General" tab,
find the section that says "When you insert a CD", click on the import settings button and then select import using AAC encoder and the option should appear now.
You also wanna go back to the original music file in iTunes and then check the start and stop time so that it plays normally from now on.
Back to our music file on the desktop, we're going to change the extension name on the file from M4A to M4R.
You'll be asked to confirm the changes and will use M4R.
For Windows users, you'll need to go to your
Control Panel then choose "Appearance and Personalization", select the Folder Options and in the View tab, make sure you have unchecked the box to hide extensions for known file types.
That will allow you to see and change the file type as well.
Okay, guys, we're almost there, but before you bring your ringtone back into iTunes, you have to delete the 30-second version that we initially created and if you don't do this, iTunes will not accept the ringtone, so this is an important and crucial step.
Now, drag and drop the renamed M4R file into the source column
of iTunes and the word "Library" should highlight.
It will copy the file into iTunes and voila, you have a new ringtone.
Plug your phone into your computer, make sure you set it up to sync ringtones in the appropriate section, sync your phone and you'll be doing the dougie in no time.
I'm Brian Tong with your how to create ringtones with iTunes 10, use it wisely.
