We live in an age of customization and personalization. No-one wants the stock colors or the stock patterns, and this desire for customization seems to be accentuated when speaking about ringtones. With Ringtone Maker Pro by Zentertain (99 cents), you will be able to make any song you have in your iTunes library into a ringtone. I want to mention, however, this app will NOT work on iPhone 2G or 3G. It only functions on iPhone 4 and 3GS.
Tap the app and you’ll find yourself looking at what you think is a loading screen, but it’s not. The app springs to life in quick fashion — no splash screen required. You’ll be on a dark screen with the title of the app and a button. To the right of the button, you will see “Select a song to start.” This is a screen that reminds me of the “take the red pill or the blue pill” from The Matrix. You will find yourself looking at your iTunes library in the songs section, at the top. Select a song and you’re on your way.
Once you have your song picked, you’ll be at the trimming interface. There are two sliders and underneath those, two toggles, then below those, three buttons. The topmost slider is for determining where in the song you would like the ringtone to start. The second slider if for setting the length of the ringtone. The toggle on the left determines whether or not the ringtone will fade in from the starting point. The toggle on the right opens up the advanced options or leaves them hidden. The button on the left is to go back to iTunes to get another song, then you have a large “play” button in the middle, followed by the “save” button.
The advanced options are essentially editing tools. You can change the pitch and speed of the song manually, or load a few presets that they have included in the app. You have presets that turn you into a chipmunk, turn a boy into a girl and vice versa, go Barry White low, or just add a little pep. This is just another way to customize your ringtones.
Once you get the ringtone edited down the way you want, hit the “save” button on the right. It mixes it down for you and then you get a “Success!” screen. Here, you’ll have a brief description of where you can get the ringtone and three buttons: “Help,” “Send,” and “Back.” The “help” button will take you to a YouTube tutorial of how to get your ringtone, the “send” button will throw your ringtone in an email to shoot out to yourself or a friend, and the “back” button goes back to the trimming interface. Sync your iPhone with your computer and drag your ringtone to your desktop. Play it and you’ll have yet another ringtone for your collection!
If any of you have used desktop ringtone makers, this is basically the same thing — minus the computer. You are able to make ringtones on the fly, and even email them to yourself. This app has a great interface and it’s really easy to use — while doing everything you need. Spring for it!
