iTunes Ringtone Editing

Posted: September 11th, 2007 | Author: Jamie Phelps | Filed under: Apple, iPhone, iTunes | Tags: iPhone, iTunes | No Comments »

With the latest updates to iTunes, Apple has brought ringtone creation to the table in Apple’s typical fashion: stupid easy.

There is a new sort column for purchased tracks that can be converted to ringtone. Of course, this won’t show for songs not purchased from iTS, so if you have much non-iTS music in your library, sort on this new column in your Purchased playlist to get an accurate picture.

There are of course other solutions for making ringtones, but unless you bought it from the iTS and it’s ringtone capable, no editing in iTunes. ¹

When you click on the bell icon next to a song that is ringtone enabled, you will be presented with a panel below the song listing, i.e. where the Mini Store shows up if you haven’t disbaled it, similar to this:

There is a lot of powerful stuff going on here. The top pane is the audio of your track. The blue selection is what would become your ringtone. Also in the selection are simple checkboxes for fading the ringtone in and out. The pane below the audio contains the track information to the left, a control for the time delay when looping (In my brief tests, 0.5 second gap is great.), a preview button, and then a button to cancel or buy the ringtone. Everything you need.

Editing your ringtone is as easy as dragging the blue pane around. Seriously, that’s it. Move the starting point by clicking anywhere inside the blue selection area and dragging to your desired position. Change the length of the ringtone by clicking and dragging the edge of the blue pane or using the resize handle on the bottom right of the selection area. Preview and adjust as necessary. Once you are satisfied with the result, click Buy to purchase the modified audio as a ringtone.

Here’s the rub: You are purchasing your modified audio and not a “ringtone right” to the song. If you create another ringtone from another section of the same song, you’re going to have to pony up another buck (You see what I did there?) for the new ringtone. So, Apple (and the record companies) are potentially receiving $.99 for the same song many times over. Not a bad racket if you can keep it to yourself. But as for me and my house, we will make our own.

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