# Ringtones for my iPhone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 10, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ringtones-for-my-iphone/509589 "2009-09-10T19:05:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ringtones-for-my-iphone/509589/1 "2009-09-10T19:05:10Z")
So I’m about a month into my iPhone ownership, and I have to say I love it, love it, love it! My biggest – but still relatively minor – disappointment, however, is regarding ringtones. The phone comes equipped with a handful of boring generic tones. Somehow I had been under the impression that I could use any song in my iTunes library as a ringtone, but that’s not the case. You can only use songs you’ve purchased directly from iTunes (usually 99 cents)… But even then, you have to pay _another_ 99 cents to convert it to a useable ringtone! So, OK… If I settle on a song that I _really_ want for my ringtone (I haven’t yet), I’ll pay $1.98 for the privilege and not cry too hard over it. Before I do so, though, my question: Is there any way around this nickel-diming? An iTunes tab I don’t know about? A third-party app of some sort? Anything? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ringtones-for-my-iphone/509589/2 "2009-09-10T19:19:17Z")
Here, I’ll Google it for you: [http://www.ehow.com/how\_2160460\_custom-iphone-ringtones-free.html](http://www.ehow.com/how_2160460_custom-iphone-ringtones-free.html) ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ringtones-for-my-iphone/509589/3 "2009-09-10T19:29:41Z")
Thanks for the quick reply, beowulff! I will be trying this tonight. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ringtones-for-my-iphone/509589/4 "2009-09-10T19:53:54Z")
Does that work for regular cellphones, not iPhones? I used to have a ringtone that I purchased for about $4, but I got a new phone and the ringtone didn’t migrate… and they’re now saying it’s $1 per month! That’s pretty annoying, so I’m wondering if there’s an alternate? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ringtones-for-my-iphone/509589/5 "2009-09-10T20:07:32Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > Does that work for regular cellphones, not iPhones? I used to have a ringtone that I purchased for about $4, but I got a new phone and the ringtone didn’t migrate… and they’re now saying it’s $1 per month! That’s pretty annoying, so I’m wondering if there’s an alternate? Does your regular cellphone sync with iTunes? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ringtones-for-my-iphone/509589/6 "2009-09-10T20:13:55Z")
Apple released a new version of iTunes yesterday and one of the new features is a ringtone store, so that you can buy them directly, rather than having to convert an existing song to a ringtone. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ringtones-for-my-iphone/509589/7 "2009-09-10T22:41:22Z")
Okay, everything was going fine until step 13: > [@Step 13](#): > > Find the file. It’s usually in your User folder under Music \> iTunes \> iTunes Music and under the band’s name. **It will have an extension of “m4a.”** No. It does NOT have an extension of “m4a.” It has no extension at all, just the name of the song. So there’s nothing to change to “m4r” in the next step. I tried just adding “.m4r” to the end of the title, but that didn’t do anything. I didn’t think it would. I’m stumped at this point. Believe me, I’m not really that cheap. I’d happily pay 2 bucks to be done with this, but the ringtone I want is not available to purchase in iTunes. Plus, down the road I’d like to have a bunch to choose from, and that can add up. So any help getting this figured out will be appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ringtones-for-my-iphone/509589/8 "2009-09-10T22:50:18Z")
I might be on to something. I did a file search by just typing “m4a”, and it found all my songs from iTunes. So, OK, apparently they _are_ m4a files. But I don’t actually _see_ “m4a” anywhere, and I’m not finding any way to display the file extension, let alone change it. Maybe there’s a setting on my PC I need to change somewhere?? ---
**Author:** ![hobscrk777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a6a055/32.png) [@hobscrk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hobscrk777)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ringtones-for-my-iphone/509589/9 "2009-09-10T22:58:21Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Okay, everything was going fine until step 13: > No. It does NOT have an extension of “m4a.” It has no extension at all, just the name of the song. So there’s nothing to change to “m4r” in the next step. I tried just adding “.m4r” to the end of the title, but that didn’t do anything. I didn’t think it would. I’m stumped at this point. > > Believe me, I’m not really that cheap. I’d happily pay 2 bucks to be done with this, but the ringtone I want is not available to purchase in iTunes. Plus, down the road I’d like to have a bunch to choose from, and that can add up. So any help getting this figured out will be appreciated. If there’s no extension appearing, Windows is probably set to hide extensions for known file types (the default setting). Are you using Windows XP? I think if you go to windows explorer, then Folder-\>options-\> uncheck “hide extensions for known filetypes.” That may not be the exact path, but I don’t have XP and can’t remember exactly of the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ringtones-for-my-iphone/509589/10 "2009-09-10T22:59:01Z")
Are you seeing file extensions in general, just not these ones? ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ringtones-for-my-iphone/509589/11 "2009-09-10T23:06:35Z")
> [@hobscrk777](#): > > If there’s no extension appearing, Windows is probably set to hide extensions for known file types (the default setting). Are you using Windows XP? I think if you go to windows explorer, then Folder-\>options-\> uncheck “hide extensions for known filetypes.” > > That may not be the exact path, but I don’t have XP and can’t remember exactly of the top of my head. That done did it! Thanks!!! What do I owe you?