How to create custom Ringtones (m4r files) from Songs in iTunes
Jakarta, 14 June 2013
On Mac OS : 10.7.5 (Lion)
On iTunes : 11.0.4
Difficulty : intermediate - hard
Assuming you know basic Ctrl+Click and Option+Drag...
Full correct steps should be like this :
- 1) Select a favourite song in iTunes program to be made into Ringtone...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- - 2) "Get Info" on that song name and make any 0:30 seconds portion of that song....
(specify "Start" & "Stop" time - under "Options" – to any 30-seconds duration and click OK)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- - 3) Right-click or Ctrl-Click again on same song name and select "Create AAC Version" to create an .m4a file...
(when done iTunes will create a Chime)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- - 4) to locate the created .m4a file easily, Ctrl-Click again on same song name and select "Show in Finder" from the pop-up list...
(iTunes will automatically point the folder location of the original .mp3 & the newly created .m4a files... keep this window open for later...)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- - 5) change the .m4a file to .m4r as suggested...
(rename to whatever you like but you must change the extension to .m4r)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- - 6) At this point, the m4r(original) file isn't a "Ringtone" file yet... which we'll need to change now...)
(check under "Get Info" > "Kind" : it's still "Apple MPEG-4 Audio")
...1st by dragging that newly changed .m4r(ori) file to somewhere out of that same default folder it was created by iTunes...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------{ this is where most confusions occur, take note here, it gets rather complicated }
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- - 7) Once it's outside of that folder, Double Click the m4r(ori) file and iTunes will play...
(u can stop it immediately...) this is just to let iTunes automatically convert that m4r(ori) file into a new duplicate & places it inside the initial default folder where the original .mp3 file is kept... we kept the window open previously, remember?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- - 8) Locate that duplicate .m4r(new & true) file, in that same .mp3 folder and now DUPLICATE-Drag (press Option while dragging to get the "+" sign) it to the "TONES" folder in your default apple folder structure. (check under "Get Info", this .m4r(new) File's "Kind" should be "Ringtone")
//to get to that "TONES" Folder : First Locate your iTunes default Music Folder in your Mac --> usually it's in your Default "MUSIC" folder --> Navigate to "iTunes Media" --> Navigate to "Tones". !! Keep this window open to make the transfer manually !!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- - 9) Once your duplicate is placed inside the "Tones" folder, double-click on that duplicate .m4r(true) file and let iTunes play, it should automatically place that ringtone file into the "Ringtone" sidebar List in the iTunes program... (check program to see) 😁
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- - Somehow u needed both duplicates : 1 – inside the default initial .mp3 folder & 1 – inside the Tones Folder which we Duplicate+Drag into... and both must be "Ringtone" – Kind... for this to work.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- - 10) There you go. Now you can Sync / Delete / Add the whole Ringtone contents to your iPhone as you wish.
//Don't forget to set SYNC ON under the iphone "Tones" tab in your iTunes - iPhone screen... and click big SYNC button at the bottom of iTunes program & wait for the magic.
( Finally you can check inside your iPhone "Sounds" settings and hopefully if all steps done correctly, the bloodycomplicatedringtone selection will be there. Enjoy! 😎
iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2010), Mac OS X (10.7.5)