iTunes 7.4.2 hits, say goodbye to DIY iPhone ringtones (for a while)
By Nilay Patel 
posted Sep 17th 2007 6:56PM
posted Sep 17th 2007 6:56PM
Update: Well, that didn't take long. According to Shadowfax in the MacRumors forums, all you've got to do to get ringtones back is flip a metadata bit and change the file extension back to .m4r -- something MacRumors says is more indicative of Apple "solidifying the format" than actively trying to kill ringtones. We're also hearing iToner still works, although we've yet to confirm. Check the read link for Shadowfox's instructions.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Looks like I won't be upgrading iTunes any time soon then, I like my Panama ring tone.
This isn't about simple updates anymore.. I think Apple has declared WAR on the DIYers!
I have iToner and I also just updated iTunes to 7.4.2. I am afraid to sync my phone now because I don't want to lose my tones. The worst part is I didnt even use songs, these are all ringtones I made and recorded myself :( Are you saying I should be ok?
I just want the intro to "Ring Of Fire" as my ringtone and the Zelda "you've found a secret" chime as my message tone. Why does apple hate me for this?
this is ridiculous...although i will say that itoner still works for me. anyone else?
aww crap!
again??
maybe there's a secret feature that will be activated for their London even tomorrow!!!!
Anyone else having a problem connecting to the iPhone Update Server when checking for updates?
Yes for a time I did. I am not in a hurry to update now!
Don't upgrade!
yes, and Microsoft is the monopolistic company...right.
While I agree with your sentiment, I suspect the blame has more to do with the record companies than with Apple.
That's like comparing apples with little dried up kumquats.
You know what, I'm getting a bit tired of people always trying to find a way to put the blame on someone or something else other than Apple. I have Apple products, iPod, Macs, use Final Cut Pro, and many other great products Apple puts out. But, when a company is behaving in an anal fashion, it must be called and considered that.
Come on people. Let's stop apologizing for Cupertino's declining quality control, strangling owners' freedom to tweak their purchased gear as they see it fit. Apple, MS, the RIAA, MPAA, and the numerous corporations dictating what we should consume are all in the same team. And, they all have the same vision in mind: squeeze as much money out our wallets as possible. Oh, make sure that each day that passes by, we have less and less control on how to use the products we buy.
They both are. Apple, however, has not been taken to court by the federal government or its competitors for illegally leveraging their monopoly. MS has, and has been found guilty many times over.
A monopoly in and of itself is not bad or illegal - it's how the company uses that power that is the question.
you're right, I probably should have said "the only monopolistic company," because, come on, that's what they're all pretty much after.
Apple has indeed faced legal challenges for monopoly practices - in Europe, which is somewhat more alert to the issue, it seems, than are US regulators.
I don't give a crap about ringtones. I just want them to fix it so I can use it on Vista 64. Come on Apple, get with it!!!!
This is talking out both sides of the mouth. Steve makes a big deal about freeing users of DRM and then slaps us around when we legally use our own music for ringtones. Is worth losing customers who leave Apple in disgust for this for a few lousy bucks in ring tone sales?
apple is really taking advantage of their position in the marketplace. they've made a lot of consumer-unfriendly cash-grabs lately. ringtones, locking out non-itunes users, restricting video output... this all sucks. and i'm sure it's just the beginning...
It doesn't say goodbye to the ringtones.
Just puts them under music instead of ringtones.
when the ringtones show up in music can you still synch the iphone and keep your ringtones or does it wipe them out
thanks
Seems there is already a hack for 7.4.2
as seen on MacRumors.com
The link didn't go through
http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=4196100&postcount=55
Just bit the bullet, upgraded to 7.4.2, and tried this stik hack - no luck.
iToner seems to be biting its own tail as well.
Looks like I'm going to have to hunt down a copy of 7.4.1 now!
Ah, nevermind! You have to have iTunes set to copy the files to the library upon import in order for it to work.
Update:
Shadowfax had tested his hack with iTunes but hadn't synced up his iPhone to it yet. When he did, the hacked AAC files didn't move over to the phone, so his hack doesn't work.
He apologized for not thoroughly testing the hack first, and everyone's still looking for one that works:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=4196822&postcount=46
iToner works for me. Just downloaded 7.4.2, then iToner and no problems.
Nvm. It uploads the tones, and I can select them, but the phone does not use them.
I wonder if this continues, will APPLE be able to claim the '100000 viruses - not on a MAC' tag line, in a few years? As and how the demand grows in the consumer sector, so does it's vulnerability to being subject to more regressive hacking.
?? Apple ----- 'ARE YOU READY???'
... and Ubuntu for all
More so if they keep alienating their users.
It's far better to relinquish the revenue stream of ringtones and keep a happy fanatical user base than alienate them and create a disgruntled set of users capable of developing more ominous hacks.
C'mon Engadget, we know you're smart enough to realize that we may have good faith clauses in our contracts demanding we do this sort of thing.
L2Common Sense, kthxbai
This is so annoying.
I don't have an iPhone. I don't even have an iPod. But I do use iTunes for most of my music purchases, and about half of my video.
And I can't stand the fact that I am prompted to download an update every freaking 3 days!!! I just freaking updated! I have to play "will-it-jack-up-my-finely-tuned-music-library-AGAIN roullette" once a week because of RINGTONES!
Apple: get yur shit together. This is ridiculous.
don't upgrade. if it ain't broke.... etc etc
You'll note I said "prompted." I think I can figure out "ignore the prompt." But thanks.
Noted, but with a prompt you don't have to play the itunes library roulette game we're all familiar with... or do you? Anyway, since you "just freaking updated!!1" I guess I made the incorrect assumption that you're prone to downloading useless updates (read: 7.4.1). I'm not a big fan of Software Update asking me for that stuff every week either.. which is why I disable updates I don't want.
Anyway... noted... as I said.
On the subject: does anyone else hate updating iTunes on a PC?
It constantly steals focus away from what I'm doing to tell me it's doing something.
Cheers, Apple Updater. I don't need you to steal focus for a popup that tells me the update is complete. Just finish up and go away. At worst, use a bubble or something.
itunes on pc is just too painful to use, it's slow and doesn't look like other apps.
anyways, solidifying the format? what? ? no, it's not that. it's just apple being what it is nowadays(yeah the ipod hash was just to keep people from using 3rd party apps, they had tried to obfuscate enough to prove that. it's just apple being what they are now).
I don't see what the big deal is, and i ' understand why you have to buy the rights to the song to make it a ring-tone, There is already precedence in the US Courts that says Ring-tones aren't considered copyright infringement because not enough of the song is used!
Legally, Apple's in the clear. Their end-user agreement specifies that ringtones are a separate purchase and that iTunes downloads are not to be used as ringtones.
As the rights owners, they are free to constrain your use of the music as they see fit, even if under fair use it would normally be okay for you to ignore them.
Fair use itself is a fuzzy boundary, so when you "sign" an agreement not to do something that would otherwise be considered fair use, you've lost that ability.
Why does Apple take all this trouble? Because it's obvious from the previously established market that people are willing to pay $2 for a ringtone, and $1 for a song. So they'd be stupid not to.
I've never bought anything Apple cuz, well, they just kind of get under my skin, but I think that the Apple-bashing is misplaced here. It's the media companies that are forcing people like Apple to charge twice for ringtones. Yes, Apple are monopolistic mofos just like Microsoft et al, but this is not entirely their doing.
I do wonder how much of the 99c per ringtone charge was due to Apple, and how much was due to the record labels. This is the company who wants to sell you DRM free music, and doesn't like DRM at all. I suspect Apple were forced into charging extra for the ringtones.
Problem what?!? I'm still using iTunes 7.3 and everything is working fine.
Unless there's some serious bug, I'm not going to upgrade any time soon.
So true, if you have a version that works for you then there is no need to upgrade every time some little small point release upgrade comes out. Just stick with what works.
I know I am just yet another commenter about this, but I have to say too, I'm a huge iPhone fan, I will subscribe to every feed I can about it, but can you decide what is mobile news and what is not, and put them in the appropriate places? I don't want to filter out the iPhone, I want to hear all about it, but I am sympathetic for the people that don't.
And on that note, I am shocked at the amount of people that have said to me they no longer subscribe to your site (people that won't post comments like this to let you know that) because of both the iPhone info and the bad division between Engadget Mobile and plain old Engadget (and I am glad I love the iPhone because I wouldn't like to be trying to avoid the torrents of info about it, subscribing to the right feeds doesn't help).
And don't say "they should scroll past it". If that's the case, Engadget should just place ads after every 3 words, you can just scroll past them!
God damn.... they update this way to much... I really like never having to update using my archos 404 and wmp11 never needs to update... ill just have to wait till wmp12 comes out which wont be for a long ass time
APPLE: QUIT FUCKING PUTTING OUT UPDATES TO GET AROUND HACKS. I am sick of updating just because you are greedy. And - to top it off, I'm a shareholder, and I don't care about the extra profits from these hacks.
For Mac users, Ringtonator works the best.
http://www.creationrobot.com/?p=813
That's where you can download it. With the new update to iTunes, just change the extension to .m4r before processing it with Ringtonator, make sure all copies of that file are deleted out of iTunes, and it will place it right in your Ringtones folder ready to be synced to your iPhone! Ringtonator fixes that metadata, changing it to .m4r just allows iTunes to know it's a ringtone. Simple!
"... more indicative of Apple "solidifying the format" - Yeah, trying to solidify the format of the "99c for a ringtone" format.
lol thats what you get for buying a broken phone with more restrictions than macs