Cannot get tones to work, tried EVERYTHING

Hello everyone,

I normally refrain from asking questions on a forum or ''community'', but seeing as I've tried

every possible thing, I consider this to be a last resort. I'll keep it straight to the point, and easy to read.

General information

- I want a specific song as a ringtone
- I have an iPhone 5S, with iOS7.0.6
- I have iTunes, version 11.1.4.62
- I have Windows Vista as my operating system
- The song in question is an .mp3 file
- Yes, the iPhone has been fully updated
- Yes, ''Tones'' has been checked on, via preferences >> general >> sources
- Yes, ''Tones'' now appears at the left sidebar, with the other sources
- Yes, importsettings have been set to: ''Import with: AAC-coding'' and ''iTunes Plus''
- Yes, I made sure the song (in song info) has a starting point from 0:01 and an ending point at 0:30.
- Yes, both ''Starttime'' and ''Endtime'' have been checked on
- Type of media (in song info) is ''music'', and cannot be set to ''tone''. It's not one of the options
- Yes, I've right clicked the song. Convert to AAC is not one of the options

Additional information

- In the iPhone summary, the current options have been checked on:

>''Automatically sync iPhone when connected''

>''Only sync songs and videos that have been checked on''

>''Manually manage music and videos''

- ''Convert songs with higher bit to 128 kbps AAC'', this has been checked on -and- off.

It did not do anything, regardless.

I am absolutely outraged by the fact that it is -this- difficult to set a song

as your default ringtone. I've had experiences with different phones, different operating systems.

Each and every one of them had the option, within the operating system itself, to simply set a file as a ringtone.

I thought the cornerstone of Apple's ideology was simplicity. I'm experiencing none of it.

Can anyone explain what is happening here? Or better yet: propose a solution?

I sincerely thank you in advance for your time and effort.

Kind regards,

Edi