No "ringtones" folder?

sean_ wrote:
Hello. I just bought an iPhone 4, and have set it up. But I do not have a "ringtone" folder in the sidebar of iTunes when I plug in my iPhone, so I am not sure how I am supposed to sync ringtones to my phone.

Ringtones are only synced via iTunes.

I have bought some simple tones from the iTunes store and these are showing in my music library but I don't have any way to get these on to my iPhone.

What is the file suffix on those files? If it isn't .m4r then it isn't in a proper format for a ringtone.

I have done a "restore" back to factory settings of iPhone just in case I did something wrong with the setup but still don't have a "ringtone" folder (I assume I should have one in the same list as things like Music, Movies, TV Shows etc).

If the tones aren't on the iPhone yet then it isn't an iPhone problem.

Does anyone know how I get ringtones on to my phone?

They need to be brought into iTunes as a ringtone. Here is a link to another thread where I answered this question:

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=12030243#12030243

sean_ wrote:
Thanks, but I maybe didn't explain my issue clearly.

Based on this post, I think you explained it adequately.

I actually bought the ringtones in iTunes and am trying to sync the purchased ringtones via iTunes. They're .m4a files (when I get info they show as "purchased AAC file" and they show up in my iTunes library.

The problem I have is that when I plug in my phone to my mac, iTunes does not have a "ringtone area" in the left sidebar so I have nothing to drag the tones to. So I am not sure how to resolve that.

Make sure your iTunes preferences has Ringtones checked in the Show: area. (iTunes->Preferences:General:Show)

Did you read my link? To be recognized as a ringtone the files MUST be .m4r. .m4a files are music files and as such will be placed in the music library--as you have found. Had they been delivered as .m4r files they would have been placed into the ringtones area of iTunes.

There is a way to convert purchased 'songs' to ringtones, but as I have never purchased a song or a ringtone from iTunes I don't know what it is, but I believe it is as simple as right clicking on the file and selecting 'convert to ringtone' or something just as easy--check iTunes help--all of my music is from CDs I purchased ripped into iTunes and I use GarageBand to create all of my ringtones.

However, as you have already purchased them as ringtones all you have to do is rename them to .m4r and iTunes should recognize that they are ringtones and move them. If that doesn't happen then execute File->Add to Library, navigate to the .m4r file and select Choose. If that doesn't place them into Ringtones then they are either not ringtone files or are corrupt.

The destination of my link contains directions that will work to create a ringtone from any music file loaded into iTunes so you don't have to purchase them from anyone if you already have a song you would like to make into a ringtone.

Message was edited by: crh24