unable to view ringtone option in itunes store

There are many free ways to make ringtone out of most any sound file.

Google will find them.

Garageband will do this.

Same issue. I realize that there other places to find ringtones via Google, etc., but the question remains....songs listed in the iTunes store previously displayed the 'bell' icon to indicate if the song could be turned into a ringtone. The iTunes Help menu advises to turn on that indicator via the View/View Options menu....same as if viewing your music library song lists. Unfortunately, View Options is grayed out in the View menu when accessing it from within the iTunes Store. Can't get help from Apple's Support resources as the ringtones links seem to be broken and return you to the same topic lists.

Interestingly, Apple's launched its Ringtone-purchasing service twice now -- once with iTunes 7.4 for custom-made ones at $0.99 per ringtone and done through iTunes with the 'bells' as you've described, and again with the iPhone OS 3.1 software update for non-customizable ones at $1.29 per ringtone and only accessible through the iPhone.

Both sync the same way and are both labeled "Ringtones," but are very different in how they were implemented and how you go about buying them.

The first method still exists for eligible songs already in your library, but as you can see, the availability of this option has quietly disappeared off the store. You have to blind-buy tracks and see if they can still be made into custom ringtones.

I'm led to believe that the music labels are no longer actively contributing to the first method, so Apple's following suit by removing the Ringtone 'bell' option from the store. (, but it's definitely not there anymore, not even in the store's Browser column view.) It seems your only other option is to cave into the second, newer method of purchasing pre-recorded ringtones directly from the iTunes Store app on the iPhone.

EDIT to my previous post: *Actually, turns out it's still possible to get the behavior you desire.*

Follow these steps:

1. Make a new, empty playlist; go to *File -> New Playlist*, or click the '+' on the lower left corner of the iTunes window.
Note: If you have +Use full window for iTunes Store+ checked in your preferences, double-click this new playlist once you've created it so that it remains open in a separate window.

2. Go to the iTunes Store and go into the Browser column view by *View -> Show Column Browser*, or click Browse from the Quick Links section.

3. Navigate through the columns until you find an album or song that you're interested in seeing custom ringtone availability for.

4. When the song list is displayed, select them and *drag them to your new playlist.* Your playlist will now be made up of a listing of 30-second song previews.

5. Navigate to that playlist and go to *View -> View Options...* You'll see that Ringtone is now available as a selectable option.

Phew. Hope this helps! =)