Ringtone makers used to be what smoking indoors is to us now: forbidden. But not anymore (though do not count on a similar turnaround with the smoking ban). Ringtone makers are back. After recently publishing a new set of App Store Review Guidelines, Apple has been making some concrete changes. Rather than question it or consider the motives, I, for one, am going to take advantage of the new world of possibilities in ringtone making. Note: These apps all share a lot of the same qualities, but the list below will help you choose which ringtone-making apps are right for your needs.
Music Ringtone Maker (99 cents)
The Music Ringtone Maker starts off simple: Create a music ringtone from any song in your iPod music library. I chose a song by my own band (I know, I know . . . but you should see how much of it I have in my library), “Antioch,” and I’ll admit, it was a bit of a thrill to hear how the iPod takes a song you know and trims it into a ringtone. I mean, fine, all they did was take the first 30 seconds of the song, but still. A cool feature on this app is you can choose whether to fade audio in and out, or not. I definitely vote fade: It makes a huge difference.
FoneTones Ringtone Maker (99 cents)
The coolest part about the FoneTones Ringtone Maker is you can curate your own ringtone. In other words, after choosing the song you’d like to convert, you get to decide when your ringtone should start and stop. You can make it as short or as long as you like, and then you can email it to yourself or a friend. You can also play it back before sending it to yourself to make sure you’ve perfected your ‘tone. The only downside is it took kind of a while for the song to reach me via email, but it was totally worth it when it came through exactly the way I wanted it to sound.
Ringtone Designer Pro (99 cents)
The Ringtone Designer Pro app is pretty straightforward: You choose a song, and your ringtone is made for you. You can also self-adjust the length of your ringtone here, as well as where you would like it to start and stop. As this app has “designer” in the title, the method of doing this is more visual. You shift a little rectangle from side to side, tailoring as you wish. When you’re done, you press a button, create your ringtone, and you then have the option to watch a YouTube video explaining how to load your new ringtone onto your iPhone. (The voice in the video sounds a bit monotone, but is super helpful.)
Ringtime Maker Pro – Create free ringtones with your music! (99 cents)
The Ringtime Maker Pro is probably most similar to the FoneTones Ringtone Maker in that you pick a song, listen to it, and decide on your own start time and length, which essentially also translates to stop time. The difference is you’re not choosing as you go. You select the start time and length first, and then listen back to see if you’re happy with the results or if you’d like to alter your ‘tone. Once you’ve settled in with one you like, you create it. Next, you can either send it via email or press the help button to learn how to “use the ringtone.”
Custom Ringtone Maker (99 cents)
The Custom Ringtone Maker has something none of the other apps have. As soon as you open it, it pre-selects a song for you to use, or at least consider, for your ringtone. You can easily change it, but I kind of liked the assertiveness of this app. I never would have thought of Cyndi Lauper’s “All Through the Night” as a ringtone song, but after it was bestowed upon me, I was immediately sold. Again, you can register your start and end time (this is obviously more common than I first thought), and then you can preview and/or convert and mail. Once you email it to yourself (or a friend), the instructions on how to turn your new file into a ringtone are automatically included in the email, which is a pretty neat feature.
