Wireless Bling

There are many services that claim to give you ring tones for free, but there’s almost always a catch - like having to sign up for a trial membership.

Fortunately, iTunes has a built-in MP3 encoder that lets you create ringtones for free, using music you already own. Here’s how to do it:

Set the song length to about 30 seconds

Right-click on the song in iTunes and select “Get Info” from the pop-up menu. Choose the Options tab and change the Stop Time to 0:30 for 30 seconds of play time.

This won’t change or damage the actual file; it just tells iTunes to only play the first 30 seconds of the song (plenty of time for you to answer your phone). You can change this setting back to full length after you create your ring tone.

Configure iTune’s MP3 Encoder

Next we’ll configure the MP3 Encoder built into iTunes to use 22khz and mono encoding (the format used by cell phone ring tones).

Click the Preferences menu and then choose the Advanced tab. Click “Importing” and then choose “MP3 Encoder” from the Import Using drop down. Choose “Custom…” from the Settings dropdown, which will display an “MP3 Encoder” dialog like the one shown below.

Convert the song to ring tone format

Now that we’ve configured the iTunes MP3 Encoder, we’ll convert the song to ring tone format.

Right-click it in iTunes and selecting “Convert Selection to MP3″ from the popup menu.

NOTE: Do not select “Create Ringtone”, as this option will charge your account, and also only works with songs you have purchased through the iTunes store.

iTunes will make a copy of the song and you’ll see that it’s play length will be 30 seconds.

Transfer the ringtone to your phone

You’ll need to download software to transfer your new ringtone to your phone via Bluetooth or a USB data cable, something phone manufactures don’t include with their phones.

If you’re using a USB data cable, then I recommend DataPilot - it works with all major phone types and lets you transfer ring tones, photos, videos, contacts, etc.

Here’s a coupon code for DataPilot: Get 20% off DataPilot software.. Enter code S0707CJ at checkout to receive your instant rebate.

If you’re using Bluetooth to transfer your ring tones, then Ringtone Media Studio 2 is worth looking at. It lets you transfer ring tones to your cell phone using a bluetooth connection and automatically creates ring tones from your favorite CDs and MP3s, without all the manual steps required by iTunes.

Set your new ringtone as your default ringtone

Now that the ringtone has been transfered to your phone, you need to set it as your default ringtone.

For the Motorola Razr, this involves entering the Settings menu and selecting Ring Styles. Choose the second option, which ends with “Detail”, and scroll to find your ringtone (hint, scroll up instead of down, since the newly added ringtone will be at the end of the list, and scrolling up will pick up the last item on the list).

Other phones will have slightly different menu selections, but the concept will be the same - find the audio file on your phone and then set it as your default ringtone.

With the tricks described in this article you can make iTunes create free ringtones for you, or you can use Ringtone Media Studio to make it even easier to create free ringtones out of your favorite music.