For those of us who are the proud owners of the iPhone, setting our favorites songs as a ring tone is like icing on the cake. Now let's suppose someone is really satisfied by the features, looks etc. of this newly acquired gadget of his, but paying extra for setting a song as a ring tone is like spoiling the party. Apple, the iPhone manufacturer charges you $2 per song in order to set it as a ring tone. This includes $1 for the song itself, and an extra dollar for converting that song into the ring tone. Now, for someone who is a music freak and has a vast collection of songs that they want to set as a ring tone, this can turn out to be quite a expensive headache.

So, how about an idea which helps you to set your favorite song as a ring tone, without having to pay for it? Amazing isn't it? You could set as many songs as you want. All that's involved is a little bit of tinkering. For those of us who use Windows and Mac as Operating Systems, it will work perfectly fine. There are many softwares available on the internet which allow you to do this and the best part being, that everything is free and legal as well! Now, all you need to get started is an iPhone, the iTunes software, and a PC that uses Mac or Windows as an operating system.

First of all, you should open the iTunes player. From the library, select and pick the song that you want as a ring tone. Now, one needs to choose the part of the song they want as the tone, as we all want our ring tones to be something we like to listen all the time. Now you need to note the time duration of the chosen part, the start time, and the time at which it should be stopped. Afterwards you should press the right click button on the song, and select the option get info. From there the tab named options needs to be selected. From there, just type the start time of the ring tone in the box right after start time. This should be in the format minute: second. For example, 3:34. Similarly, repeat the exercise for stop time as well.

To make a ring tone of about 40 seconds is advisable. Now click on the OK button. Now go to the song again and select the option that converts the current selected media into AAC format. This will take a few minutes. A duplicate version will be created. Now right click on the ring tone again and delete it. Next, click on the keep files button. Now, search the file that you just created. It will most probably be located in the iTunes folder. The file format would be .m4a. Now, from the Tools->Folder Options, you need to change the file format from .m4a to .m4r.

A simple double click, when done slowly, would also do it though. Another method is to rename the file in case of Windows, and get info for those who use Mac OS. The system will automatically warn you about the change in the file format. You can choose to ignore that. Now, double-click on the newly created ring tone file. The iTunes player will add the particular media in the ring tones category in the iTunes library. Now, just connect the iPhone and sync that ring tone.

Not only does it save you a buck or two, it saves time and gives you your whole music collection to choose from!