Apple's ringtones are not expensive compared to others
"As it turns out, that’s correct—at least compared with existing sources for ringtone sales. Pop song ringtones from T-Mobile and Sprint cost $2.50 apiece; from Verizon, $3. You don’t get to customize them, choose the start and end points, adjust the looping and so on. Incredibly, after 90 days, every Sprint ringtone dies, and you have to pay another $2.50 if you want to keep it. Verizon’s last only a year."
iPhone; MBP-15; iMacG5, Mac OS X (10.4.10)