How to Get a Ringtone of a Popular Song onto the iPhone

Ringtones that are available to use on cell phones are usually sounds like standard phone ringers, bells, animal voices, or some other tech sounds. For some people these ringtone choices may be boring as they might prefer to have popular music play when someone gives them a ring.

If you are one of these people you can actually buy a ringtone of a popular song – either directly from the cell phone or from the Internet - and it will usually cost you ninety-nine cents, though some might be a little higher in price.

Of course it all depends on the kind of phone you have, and for people with an iPhone getting a ringtone of a popular song onto the phone is not as easy as it should be. There is no option on the iPhone itself that lets you directly download a ringtone. You actually have to use iTunes for that.

Here are the steps you need to take to actually get a ringtone of a popular song onto your iPhone:

To do this you need to have a song in your iTunes library that has been purchased from iTunes. (You cannot use a song that you have imported from your CD!) If you do not have one, or you prefer to use another song, then you have to go to the iTunes store and buy a song that you want to use as a ringtone. Once the song is downloaded to the iTunes library, you have to make sure that the song is actually eligible to be made into a ringtone. If it is, then you will see a bell next to the song. Remember that if you do not see a bell icon next to a song it could mean two things. One, the song cannot be made into a ringtone, or two, the ringtone option is not selected in your settings and that is why you do not see the bell icon. To make sure that the ringtone option is selected go to View --> View Options and make sure the Ringtone box is checked. If it is not, check it and press OK.

Now that you have completed the first few steps it is time to actually turn the song into a ringtone. To do this you have to select the song you want to use and right click on it. In the drop down menu that appears click Create Ringtone.

When you do this a screen will appear on the bottom of the iTunes window. The screen will show a bar of the entire song in the form of waves and time intervals (in seconds).

The first fifteen seconds of the song are already selected for you. If you prefer to use the first fifteen seconds of the song as the ringtone then you don’t have to do anything, but if you want a specific part of the song as the ringtone, then you have to drag the highlighted section to the part of the song that you want to use. You have to first drag the fade in part (the beginning of highlighted section) and then the fade out part (the end of highlighted section).Once you are done, click Preview to listen to the ringtone to make sure that it is exactly as you want it. If everything is to your liking, go ahead and click Buy. Remember that you will be charged ninety-nine cents to do this. Now all that is left to do is sync your iPhone with iTunes and you will be able to set that ringtone on your iPhone.

With the iPhone being so high tech, you would think it would be as easy as 123 to get a ringtone of a popular song onto the phone. Unfortunately, that is not so. But if you prefer to have a popular song play every time someone calls you, instead of listening to a bell ring, or a cat meow, then you have no choice but to spend some time and get this done. It is not complicated at all to do this. It just takes some time and desire to get this done. Oh and of course let's not forget ninety-nine cents to create the ringtone and the price to actually download the song from the iTunes store. It won't drain your wallet but it is still an expense.