Create iPhone ringtones from iTunes previews [Update: No Longer Works]

Michael Johnston · July 27th, 2007, 05:53 PM

With the advent of being able to easily hack ringtones onto your iPhone, there's just one thing missing: an easy way to convert your songs into ringtones. As it turns out, Apple has done the dirty work for you with the 30 second previews which accompany every track on iTunes. Erica Sadun of TUAW has figured out a super easy way to nab those previews for use on your iPhone. Step by step instructions after the jump!

1. Create a new playlist. Drag unpurchased songs from the iTunes store into your playlist. The songs will retain their "Add Song" buttons and their price within the playlist.

2. Export your playlist. Select the playlist in the sources column. Control-click/Right-click the playlist name and choose Export Song List from the pop-up menu.

3. Save the playlist as plain text. Select Plain Text from the Format pop-up and save the playlist file to your desktop.

4. Open the playlist file. It is a tab-delimited file of columns, so you can open it up in Excel (my preference, make sure to option-drag the text file onto the Excel icon) or a text editor like TextEdit.

5. Locate the file URLs. Each file URL appears in the final Location column for each line. Copy the URL.

6. Download the files. In Safari 3.0, open the Downloads window (Windows->Downloads). Paste the URL into the Download window and allow the file to transfer. Your computer must be authorized to your iTunes account. You may want to try playing back the file in QuickTime Player just to be sure it downloaded correctly. If you're not a Safari 3.0 user, use your favorite alternate such as curl, wget, or so forth.

7. Rename. Give the file a more meaningful name than, for example, "mzi.rwgtaash.aac.p.m4p". Retain the .m4p extension.

8. Upload to the iPhone. The easiest way to do this is with iFuntastic. The only problem is that iFuntastic doesn't recognize .m4p files as a viable ringtone format. The workaround is to rename the file to .m4a and proceed to upload.

9. Select the ringtone. On the iPhone, navigate to Settings -> Sound > Ringtone and select the new file. The ringtone will play back as you select it. Please note that some newer releases (including Nicole Scherzinger's Whatever U Like--thanks Drunk Dwarf) do not work as ringtones. I'm not sure why.

Congratulations, not only have you added a new 30-second custom ringtone to your iPhone, but iTunes usually picks the best 30 seconds of any song for its preview. Enjoy.

Update: This tip no longer works in current versions of iTunes. The tip will remain for archival purposes.

[via TUAW]

**Ringtones** - July 28th, 2007, 12:43 PM #2

What can I say???? BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

d-man · July 28th, 2007, 02:01 PM #3

You can also download the previews with Safari 2 by pasting the URL into the address bar, holding down the option key and hitting return. This causes Safari to download the link.

July 28th, 2007, 09:30 PM #4

this is great although for windows users it doesn't work properly when copying and pasting from excel to windows downloads

BillyMayes · July 29th, 2007, 03:34 AM #5

I would just use text editor. Maybe IE7 will open it nicely? I dunno, I'm a Mac guy...

July 29th, 2007, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

this is great although for windows users it doesn't work properly when copying and pasting from excel to windows downloads

That is easy. If you paste the url into the location bar for Firefox, firefox by nature will pop up the download box to give you the option of just playing it or downloading it.

July 30th, 2007, 09:12 AM #7

I'm confused....

also, I bought the song I want to use, so this doesn't work....jkhnjh

July 30th, 2007, 09:13 AM #8

^

How did that gibberish get at the end of what I said?

**It isn't working** - July 30th, 2007, 12:02 PM #9

It has not worked for me so far. I tried it twice using Ifuntastic, following all directions i believe. I uploaded the song, and can see it on my phone, but the song will not play when I select it, nor when I recieve a call.

PS - July 30th, 2007, 12:06 PM #10

I have tried with two songs, one made in 1997, one made in 2007, so they weren't both new... Not sure what to do...

Mubs · July 30th, 2007, 02:19 PM #11

Not sure what the problem would be. Does the audio file actually play in QuickTime?

July 30th, 2007, 10:34 PM #12

I downloaded it to the desktop (MacBook) and ended up with the gibberish.mp4 file and it played nicely in Quicktime. Unfortunately, when I tried to add it to the disk in iFuntastic 2.0 it was blacked out. Is this because it's an mp4 file?

BillyMayes · July 30th, 2007, 10:45 PM #13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I downloaded it to the desktop (MacBook) and ended up with the gibberish.mp4 file and it played nicely in Quicktime. Unfortunately, when I tried to add it to the disk in iFuntastic 2.0 it was blacked out. Is this because it's an mp4 file?

I think the files are .m4p when you download them. iFuntastic v2.1 should be able to use them. Are you able to add other files successfully?

DemonsMaster · July 31st, 2007, 09:04 AM #14

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyMayes

I think the files are .m4p when you download them. iFuntastic v2.1 should be able to use them. Are you able to add other files successfully?

Every song (or preview) I've gotten from iTunes wouldn't load into iFuntastic..I had to rename them into .m4a files for them to be able to be read, and even then sometimes they can't be played in the actual iPhone

**windows user** - July 31st, 2007, 02:46 PM #15

Everything is done up until upload to Iphone..... How do I upload to the Iphone if I can't use Ifuntastic because I am not a MAC user?????

BillyMayes · July 31st, 2007, 07:45 PM #16

Quote:

Originally Posted by DemonsMaster

Every song (or preview) I've gotten from iTunes wouldn't load into iFuntastic..I had to rename them into .m4a files for them to be able to be read, and even then sometimes they can't be played in the actual iPhone

It's a bug. You can add those files, you just need to drag them to the list. Clicking "Add" won't do it for you. *Shrugs*

Pepper · July 31st, 2007, 08:08 PM #17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Everything is done up until upload to Iphone..... How do I upload to the Iphone if I can't use Ifuntastic because I am not a MAC user?????

you have to wait like the rest of us for iFuntastic to be released onto your operating system (ie. windows, powerpc)

**ehh** - August 1st, 2007, 06:36 PM #18

How can you upload the ringtone without using ifuntastic? I'm not on an intel based mac, im using a powerbook G4. What are my options then?

Pepper · August 2nd, 2007, 01:00 AM #19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

How can you upload the ringtone without using ifuntastic? I'm not on an intel based mac, im using a powerbook G4. What are my options then?

you have to have an intel mac because you have to run jailbreak to open your phone to modifications. Until they release a PPC iFuntastic, your out of luck (i am having to wait too). They say it will be soon for the PPC version, and the windows version to be released.

August 2nd, 2007, 01:57 PM #20

This is for those who already bought the song or those who don't like the 30 seconds on ituens. if you don't have a intel mac this still won't help you though

sorry. itunes has every thing you need to make your own ringtones. Drag a song you want as a ring tone to a playlist so you don't mess up the original song. Right click-> get info (command i) on a song you want to make your ringtone. Go to options and check start and stop time. Change the times to the 30 seconds or so that you would like to be your ringtone. Click ok. Then click once on the short version of the song that you just made and go to advanced and convert selection to mp3. If that option isn't given go to preferences -> advanced-> importing and change the "import using" to mp3. now mp3 should be in the advanced menu. drag that song to the fold you are uploading your ringtones from.

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Michael Johnston This is my fricken site, durrrr Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Rockford, IL Posts: 2,694 Thanks: 11 Thanked 45 Times in 40 Posts	Create iPhone ringtones from iTunes previews [Update: No Longer Works] - July 27th, 2007, 05:53 PM #1
	<script language="JavaScript" src="http://adserver1.backbeatmedia.com/servlet/ajrotator/13894/222/viewJScript?pool=13886&type=3158&pos=20&zone=5000"></script> With the advent of being able to easily hack ringtones onto your iPhone, there's just one thing missing: an easy way to convert your songs into ringtones. As it turns out, Apple has done the dirty work for you with the 30 second previews which accompany every track on iTunes. Erica Sadun of TUAW has figured out a super easy way to nab those previews for use on your iPhone. Step by step instructions after the jump! 1. Create a new playlist. Drag unpurchased songs from the iTunes store into your playlist. The songs will retain their "Add Song" buttons and their price within the playlist. 2. Export your playlist. Select the playlist in the sources column. Control-click/Right-click the playlist name and choose Export Song List from the pop-up menu. 3. Save the playlist as plain text. Select Plain Text from the Format pop-up and save the playlist file to your desktop. 4. Open the playlist file. It is a tab-delimited file of columns, so you can open it up in Excel (my preference, make sure to option-drag the text file onto the Excel icon) or a text editor like TextEdit. 5. Locate the file URLs. Each file URL appears in the final Location column for each line. Copy the URL. 6. Download the files. In Safari 3.0, open the Downloads window (Windows->Downloads). Paste the URL into the Download window and allow the file to transfer. Your computer must be authorized to your iTunes account. You may want to try playing back the file in QuickTime Player just to be sure it downloaded correctly. If you're not a Safari 3.0 user, use your favorite alternate such as curl, wget, or so forth. 7. Rename. Give the file a more meaningful name than, for example, "mzi.rwgtaash.aac.p.m4p". Retain the .m4p extension. 8. Upload to the iPhone. The easiest way to do this is with iFuntastic. The only problem is that iFuntastic doesn't recognize .m4p files as a viable ringtone format. The workaround is to rename the file to .m4a and proceed to upload. 9. Select the ringtone. On the iPhone, navigate to Settings -> Sound > Ringtone and select the new file. The ringtone will play back as you select it. Please note that some newer releases (including Nicole Scherzinger's Whatever U Like--thanks Drunk Dwarf) do not work as ringtones. I'm not sure why. Congratulations, not only have you added a new 30-second custom ringtone to your iPhone, but iTunes usually picks the best 30 seconds of any song for its preview. Enjoy. Update: This tip no longer works in current versions of iTunes. The tip will remain for archival purposes. [via TUAW] __________________ About my iPhone: iPhone & Color: White 32GB iPhone 3GS iPhone Version: Whatever the latest is because I'm crazy like that. Computer & OS: 15" Unibody MacBook Pro + OS X Leopard 10.5 AIM: iPhoneAlley twitter: MichaelJohnston

Pareatis Guest Posts: n/a	Ringtones - July 28th, 2007, 12:43 PM #2
Pareatis Guest Posts: n/a	What can I say???? BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

d-man Forum Lurker Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 1 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	July 28th, 2007, 02:01 PM #3
	You can also download the previews with Safari 2 by pasting the URL into the address bar, holding down the option key and hitting return. This causes Safari to download the link.

Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	July 28th, 2007, 09:30 PM #4
Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	this is great although for windows users it doesn't work properly when copying and pasting from excel to windows downloads

BillyMayes Rocks the Board Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: TV Posts: 294 Thanks: 0 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts	July 29th, 2007, 03:34 AM #5
	I would just use text editor. Maybe IE7 will open it nicely? I dunno, I'm a Mac guy... __________________ About my iPhone: iPhone & Color: Original iPhone iPhone Version: 1.1.4 (Codename: OxiClean) Hacks: OxiClean'd Computer & OS: Too busy selling OxiClean I invented friggin OxiClean, have you heard of it?

Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	July 30th, 2007, 09:12 AM #7
Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	I'm confused.... also, I bought the song I want to use, so this doesn't work....jkhnjh

Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	July 30th, 2007, 09:13 AM #8
Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	^ How did that gibberish get at the end of what I said?

Iphoner Guest Posts: n/a	It isn't working - July 30th, 2007, 12:02 PM #9
Iphoner Guest Posts: n/a	It has not worked for me so far. I tried it twice using Ifuntastic, following all directions i believe. I uploaded the song, and can see it on my phone, but the song will not play when I select it, nor when I recieve a call.

Iphoner Guest Posts: n/a	PS - July 30th, 2007, 12:06 PM #10
Iphoner Guest Posts: n/a	I have tried with two songs, one made in 1997, one made in 2007, so they weren't both new... Not sure what to do...

Mubs Beyond l33t Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 159 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	July 30th, 2007, 02:19 PM #11
	Not sure what the problem would be. Does the audio file actually play in QuickTime?

Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	July 30th, 2007, 10:34 PM #12
Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	I downloaded it to the desktop (MacBook) and ended up with the gibberish.mp4 file and it played nicely in Quicktime. Unfortunately, when I tried to add it to the disk in iFuntastic 2.0 it was blacked out. Is this because it's an mp4 file?

Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	windows user - July 31st, 2007, 02:46 PM #15
Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	Everything is done up until upload to Iphone..... How do I upload to the Iphone if I can't use Ifuntastic because I am not a MAC user?????

Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	ehh - August 1st, 2007, 06:36 PM #18
Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	How can you upload the ringtone without using ifuntastic? I'm not on an intel based mac, im using a powerbook G4. What are my options then?

Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	August 2nd, 2007, 01:57 PM #20
Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	This is for those who already bought the song or those who don't like the 30 seconds on ituens. if you don't have a intel mac this still won't help you though sorry. itunes has every thing you need to make your own ringtones. Drag a song you want as a ring tone to a playlist so you don't mess up the original song. Right click-> get info (command i) on a song you want to make your ringtone. Go to options and check start and stop time. Change the times to the 30 seconds or so that you would like to be your ringtone. Click ok. Then click once on the short version of the song that you just made and go to advanced and convert selection to mp3. If that option isn't given go to preferences -> advanced-> importing and change the "import using" to mp3. now mp3 should be in the advanced menu. drag that song to the fold you are uploading your ringtones from.