How to convert any song in your iTunes library to an iPhone ringtone

Custom ringtones are great - they let you add a personalized touch to your phone. Some phones allow you to add custom ringtones, such as a song in your music library easily, while others, namely the iPhone, do not. While Apple does offer the ability to purchase ringtones through the iTunes Store, many users would like to use tracks they have already purchased for this. Thankfully, there is a way to do this. 

Step 1: Launch iTunes and make sure you have your iPhone plugged in.

Step 2: Choose the song you'd like to use as a ringtone. Right-click on the song in iTunes and select "Get Info"

Step 3: Under the "Options" tab, check the box next to "Start Time" and "Stop Time." The ringtone cannot be more than 30 seconds long, so be sure to choose a start and stop time that you'd like to use (and only 30 seconds). Click "OK" when done. 

Step 4: Right-click on the same track again and select "Create AAC Version." Once the AAC version of the clipped song is created (you should notice a new track in your library with the exact same name as the original), right-click on the new track and select "Show in Finder" (on a Mac) or "Show in Windows Explorer" (on Windows). 

Step 5: A new Finder or Windows Explorer window will appear. Make sure that the track selected ends in a ".m4a" - drag this file to your desktop. Go back into iTunes and delete the clipped version of the song by highlighting it, right-clicking, and selecting "Delete." 

Step 6: Go back to your desktop and change the extension of the track from ".m4a" to ".m4r" (no quotes). On a Mac, you can do this easily by selecting the track, hitting the "Return" key, and change the old extension to the new one. On Windows, extra steps may be involved due to specific configurations.

Step 7: Once the extension of the song is changed, double-click it and it should import under the "Ringtones" section in iTunes automatically. Simply sync your iPhone and the ringtone should be available for choosing on the device. 

Notes

• Once you've completed this entire process, be sure to go back into iTunes, right-click on the original track, select "Get Info," and uncheck the "Start Time" and "Stop Time" boxes
• To make sure that the ringtone will sync to your iPhone, make sure you have enabled syncing ringtones in the device manager in iTunes