All Articles Tagged ringtone

Apple has selected a bunch of songs that make for popular ringtones and placed them in an easy-to-find section of the iTunes store. I’m getting tired of my old custom alarm ringtone (I only made one) and I think it’s time to wake up to something new.

Ringtones: the Playlists

Listen up. The iTunes Store has just made it easier to find the perfect ringtones to assign to your favorite callers. After scouring the more than 500,000 currently available ringtones, iTunes editors have assembled a wide assortment of ringtone playlists. The genre-based playlists include such eminently “ringtoneable” tracks as “Answer the Phone” (Sugar Ray), “Pyscho” (Bernard Hermann), “My Funny Valentine” (Chet Baker), “Hung Up” (Madonna), “On the Road Again” (Willie Nelson), “Soul Man” (The Blues Brothers), and many others. Want help creating your new ringtones? [Nov 06, 2007]

iTunes Store Link

Ambrosia Software released a new version of iToner that returns ringtone functionality to iPhones running firmware version 1.1.1. Previously, iToner owners were only able to sync their non-Apple-sanctioned ringtones with iPhones that were using one of the 1.0 firmware versions. iToner costs $15 and doesn’t involve any hacks to your iPhone.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog has posted an interview with Andrew Welch, Ambrosia Software’s CEO. Ambrosia Software released a piece of software that we’ve mentioned here before called iToner, which allowed you to put 3rd party ringtones on the iPhone for $15. It’s a fine interview that shows his struggle in dealing with how Apple broke all of the third-party development with the 1.1.1 firmware. Ambrosia is probably the biggest Mac software developer that was putting efforts into iPhone development, and he gives a good voice to what every iPhone developer is thinking right now.

I bought some ringtones yesterday. I’ve bought my fair share of tracks on iTunes, and woke up to find that I could use 13 of them as a ringtone. None of the songs I owned were really ringtone worthy, but I was tired of waking up to Marimba or Strum every day, so I set about turning one lucky song into my morning alarm ringtone. Here are my impressions:

1. Their waveform editor is not very responsive on PowerPC macs with tons of RAM
2. The checkout process is buggy; I had two songs in my iTunes cart when I purchased my ringtone. iTunes purchased them, but did not download them. I’m glad there are ‘report problems’ links in the billing emails.
3. After purchasing the song, I synced it over to my iPhone. I was informed in an error message that the song wouldn’t transfer because this computer wasn’t authorized. So I played the song to authorize it (and got the message that I had now authorized this song on 3 computers. What?), and then I was able to sync the ringtone over.

In other words, it’s buggy. The entire experience is as far from “the Apple way” as it can possibly get. There aren’t a lot of songs available yet. And it’s buggy. I hope there’s an update soon to address some of the bugs. I definitely won’t be trying this again until an update comes out. In case you’re wondering if I’m suggesting perhaps a less annoying method to get songs on your iPhone, perhaps I am. Perhaps could one just use a program that automates the free iTunes hack, like MakeiPhoneRingtone from Rogue Amoeba?

iPhoneRingToneMaker (Windows, shareware) has been updated to work with iTunes 7.4.1, as has iToner (Mac, shareware). There’s also a bit of software that automates the free ringtone method called iRing, though the last one isn’t available yet. You can also use MakeiPhoneRingtone to automate the iTunes extension hack, and that one works with both iTunes 7.4 and iTunes 7.4.1. Oh, and Apple’s ringtone service is now live.

figure 1: now is that free as in “free” or free as in “beer”?

Sorry for the spam font, but an enterprising user using the alias Cleverboy has discovered the easiest and cheapest way to get ringtones on the iPhone — to rename files. Simply duplicate the file, add an ‘m4r’ extension to it, and add your new file to iTunes. You can then sync the file over, and presto! You’re done. This method works with both protected AAC files and normal AAC files. If you need more instructions, head over to MacRumors to get them.

Jeffery Harrell has as as good a reason as any to nominate Apple for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Holy smokes! Apple has put a $200 price cut on the 8 GB iPhone, and dropped the 4GB version altogether. That’s right, the 8GB iPhone is now $399. Where do I line up for my $200 check? I’m equal parts filled with rage for paying a $200 early adopter fee, and equal parts filled with glee for a $200 price cut. I’m glad that it makes the iPhone that much more accessible for everyone else. I just feel a little sore when I sit, that’s all.

I have colleagues that believe the price cut is a portent of a hardware refresh. I have a hard time believing Apple would refresh their iPhone hardware so soon after launch, but I should float the idea out as speculation. I believe a 3G version is possible, perhaps in the 1st or 2nd quarter of 2008. The part of me that hopes I’m wrong is the part of me that wants my iPhone to be new forever. Sigh

There’s an iTunes update tonight that will bring Ringtones support. For a select portion of their music catalog (about 500,000 songs altogether, or 8% of the songs available on iTunes), you can make a ringtone if you’ve already purchased the song. All in all, the song to play on the iPod and the song to play as a ringtone is $1.98. Song portion: $.99, same as always. Ringtone: $.99. I think the extra fee is for the ‘public performance’ licensing aspect of ringtones. It will be interesting to see if the iTunes update breaks iToner, iFuntastic, or the indomitable iPhoneRingtoneMaker. Let’s hope not.

The iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store will come to the iPhone in an update later this month. Look for it on a Tuesday afternoon this month, I’d bet. You will be able to purchase any music from the iTunes store and download it via wi-fi. I doubt you will be able to purchase it via EDGE. After all, it’s not the iTunes Wireless Music Store. Why not, though? It’s easier to say, and less cumbersome to type.

The iTunes Wi-Fi Music store will also be available from a bunch of Starbucks in most areas by 2009. The Starbucks in the larger top-ten cities in the US will get the update treatment first, and Starbucks figures they’ll have “most major metro areas” by late 2008. Um, I could rollout a storewide wi-fi network faster than that.

In other iPod news, Steve announced the iPod sister to the iPhone, the iPhone touch (8GB for $299 and 16GB is $399), to be available later this month. It’s slightly smaller, you’ll note from the picture above, and its application functionality has obviously not been totally disclosed. Notably missing from the iPod Touch thus far is a notes app and a maps app…. Hmmm.

The iPod, newly rechristened the iPod Classic, saw updates bringing a new, drastically thinner 80GB version ($249) and a thinner-than-the-previously-thickest 80GB version is the 160 GB version ($349).

The new iPod Nano, regarded by many as an ugly duckling, gets the full iPod treatment. It gains a video-quality screen, and is available in 4GB ($149) and 8GB ($199) versions, and it still works with the Nike+iPod sport kit. As you can see in the picture from Apple’s website above, it’s a little wee thing, absolutely tiny.

Huh. Apple’s iPod lineup looks like a steamroller right now. The Zune, Creative Zen, Sony Walkman line, et al, all look like bumpy roads waiting to be flattened this holiday season.

[via, via, via]

Ambrosia Software has released iToner, a $15 shareware application that allows you to simply add ringtones to your iPhone. From their site:

“Drag, drop, and sync.

iToner enables you to quickly transfer custom ringtones for your iPhone – without modifying, hacking or having to reset your iPhone. Simply drag and drop your MP3 or AAC audio files on iToner’s window, click the Sync button, and you’re done. Even better, your ringtones will continue to work with future iPhone OS updates!

Your iPhone. Customized.

Your iPhone allows you to assign different ringtones for your different contacts. With iToner, now you can have a Barry White ringtone for when your girlfriend calls, Frank Zappa for when your college buddies ring you up, or the theme from Jaws for when your boss is calling.”