For a Sony Ericsson phone, a ringtone music file must have a bitrate of 112 kbps or less, and the file itself cannot be more than 30 seconds long. Within iTunes, any mp3 can be converted into a ringtone in 10 easy steps.1. Find and listen to the song you want blaring out of your phone when your loathsome friends bother you.
2. Identify the portion (30 seconds or less) that would make the best ringer, and write down the timestamps of the beginning and end of it.
3. 'Get Info' on the song, whether through the contextual menu (right-click on it), or by hitting command-i while the song's highlighted.
4. Click on the 'Options' tab in the Info window and enter the timestamps into the start and stop boxes located therein. Hit 'OK'.
5. Doubleclick on the chosen song to see if only that portion plays and if it's the right portion. Hone the timestamps to tenths of seconds to get the ringtone to start and stop exactly where you want. e.g. 3:43.8 is the format for 8 tenths of second after 3:43.
6. Open iTunes Preferences, either under the iTunes menu or by hitting command-, and then check your 'Importing' preferences. They may be in different places (usually under the General or Advanced tabs) depending on what version of iTunes you have.
Set it to — Import using: MP3 Encoder — Setting: Custom (112 kbps).
7. Go back to the song you have chosen and time constrained. Highlight it and go to the Advanced menu above. Click on 'Convert Selection to MP3'. If it doesn't say MP3, check your import preferences again.
8. Once the song is finished converting, you should have a mini-retarded version of your originally chosen song sitting right above or below it. Give it a listen to make sure it turned out.
9. Put the lil' guy on your phone and choose it as your ringer.
10. Then wait for said loathsome friends to destroy your solace.
That's how I would do it. Here's to not having to pay exorbitant fees for lower-quality snippets of songs that only annoy you in a matter of weeks anyhow.
