How to create a ringtone from a song in iTunes

Want to know something totally lame? The fact that a 30 second ringtone on iTunes costs the same amount as buying the entire song. What's up with that?! That is why I am so grateful for a husband who figured out how to make ringtones from his songs in iTunes. And it's really quite simple! I've been having a lot of fun choosing specific songs for each of my family members that reminds me of them. This tutorial will show you the process of when I was creating the ringtone for my husband of the song "Paperman".  My husband loves the Disney short "Paperman", as do I. It is just so ingenious in its beauty and originality. If you have not had the wonderful opportunity to see it you really should take the time - I promise it will be worth it. Anyways, on with the tutorial.

1. First things first, open up iTunes and choose the song you want to create into a ringtone.

2. Decide which section of the song you want, and take note of what time in the song that section occurs; for example I'm using time 3:41-4:11. My husband and I like to do 30 second ringtones because we like to use them as alarms but keep in mind your phone usually only rings for 20 seconds before going to voicemail.

3. Right click on your song and select "Get Info"

4. Go to the "Options" tab and change the "Start Time" and "Stop Time" to the times you chose for your ringtone.  Then click OK.

5.  Now when you play the song it will start and stop at those times you entered.  Now right click on the song again, and select "Create AAC Version".

6.  Now drag and drop your new audio file from iTunes and onto your Desktop.  Then delete that new file off of iTunes.  DO NOT delete the original song.

7.  Now regular iTunes song files are .m4a files.  Ringtone files are .m4r.  To change the file, right click on your new desktop audio file and select "Get Info" again.

If you are using a Windows computer, and you don't see the extension on your file.  You will need to go Start - Control Panel - Appearance - Folder Options - View Tab - And unclick the box to "Hide File Extensions".

8.  Change the "Name & Extension" from .m4a to .m4r.  

(You can also do this directly from the desktop by simply renaming the file and changing the extension.)

9.  Close out of the window.  When you do a window will pop up asking if you are sure about the change, click "Use .m4r".

Windows users: Click enter after renaming the file and it will ask if you are sure you want to change it, say "Yes". 

10.  We are almost done!  Go back to your iTunes Library and go to your "Tones".  Drag your now .m4r file from your Desktop and into your "Tones" in iTunes.

If your "Tones" Library is missing on your iTunes go to Preferences - General Tab, there you will be able to choose what you want to "Show" in your iTunes.  Make sure the "Tones" box is checked.  (Sometimes if you have too many options checked, it still won't show, so only have checked what you really want to show.)

11.  Now all you have to do is plug your phone into the computer and sync your tones.  

**Also don't forget to go back and change the original song back to normal.  All you have to do is uncheck the start and stop times and press okay.  They will return to normal that way.**

I hope you enjoy making and customizing your new ringtones!  This works for text tones, email tones, and more, just change the length of it to your desired tone length.  

*This tutorial was done to create a ringtone for an iPhone, as I have only owned an iPhone for the last couple years, I don't know how this tutorial would work for other types of phone's tones.

Do you like customizing ringtones for multiple individuals?  How many people do you have a customized ringtone for?