Creating free iPhone ringtones has never been easier with the help of iTunes. iTunes 9 allows the customisation of a particular song’s start- and end-time, paving the way for iPhone ringtone creation that requires nothing more than iTunes and Windows Explorer (to move the new ring tone).

Keep in mind that iTunes will allow you to create a ringtone from a song downloaded through the iTunes Music Store, but those ringtones come with fees… and no one likes fees. Follow this guide to create free iPhone ringtones for free using nothing more than iTunes.

Note: This process works with MP3, ACC and AIFF files on DRM free songs only.

Step 1 – Set the iTunes Import Settings

Start up iTunes on your PC or Mac and select Edit -> Preferences under the ‘General’ tab locate the ‘Import Settings…’ button and click it. Check to ensue that ‘Import Using:’ is set to ‘ACC Encoder’ and that ‘Setting:’ is set to ‘iTunes Plus’. Click ‘OK’ to close each dialogue box.

Step 2 – Create the Ringtone

In coverflow view select a song you would like to turn into a ringtone and right click. Select ‘Get Info’ and hit the ‘Options’ tab. Check both the ‘Start Time’ and ‘Stop Time’ boxes and enter a start time and stop time (Note: 1:50 is 1 minute 50 seconds, 1.5 is 1.5 seconds) and click ‘OK’. Ringtones must be 30 seconds or less or they will not work.

Play the track to ensure you have the correct start and stop times, using the step above to fine-tune your selection.

When you are happy click on ‘Advanced’ in the menu bar and select “Create AAC Version”. A duplicate copy of the song will appear in iTunes with the same name but a shorter ‘Time’.

Go back to the original song and uncheck the ‘Start Time’ and ‘End Time’ boxes.

Drag the duplicate song to your Desktop and then delete the duplicate file in iTunes. Now rename the file giving it a “.m4r” extension, and this turns the song into and iPhone ringtone file.

Step 3 – Move the Ringtone & Add it to iTunes

The ringtone now needs to be moved into a folder and then added to iTunes, using Windows Explorer. Click Start (bottom left of the screen) -> My Music to open Windows Explorer and double-click on the iTunes folder. On the Windows Explorer menu bar select File -> New -> Folder to create a new sub-folder and name it ‘Ringtones’. Drag the ringtone located on the desktop into the new ‘Ringtones’ folder.

In iTunes on the menu bar click File -> Add Folder to Library… and locate the ‘Rintones’ sub-folder in ‘My Documents’ > ‘My Music’ > ‘iTunes’ and click OK.

All ringtones located in the ‘Ringtone’ folder will be added to iTunes under the ‘Ringtones’ tab.

Step 4 – Copy and Use the Ringtone on Your iPhone

To copy the ringtones to your iPhone simply sync it with iTunes.

To use a ringtone on your iPhone got to Settings -> Sounds and select the ‘Ringtone’ option. At the top of the list there will be a ‘Custom’ area and this will display all of the ringtones you have created (If your ringtone is not shown in the list it is most likely too long, remember ringtones can be a maximum length of 30 seconds). Select a ringtone and it will start playing and will also be selected, shown by an arrow to the right.

Your default ringtone is now set.