How to Make Free Custom Ringtones for Your Cell Phone

A few years ago, long before custom ringtones were widely available, most first generation digital cell phones only accepted a certain type of file (qcp file) as a ring tone. This meant only a select few who were brave enough to embrace their inner geek were able to successfully turn a wav file into a qcp. Thankfully, modern digital phones now have the capacity to play short MP3 files (usually 30 seconds and under) as ringtones, but creating an acceptable ringtone isn't as easy as you might think. This guide will help you create unique free ringtones in minutes.

First, a disclaimer. Creating a ringtone out of music that you've purchased may or may not be legal. I am not a lawyer, so if you choose to make a ringtone of your favorite song, do so at your own discretion. My ringtone of choice? An authentic "whoop whoop pull up" cockpit voice recorder warning before a famous crash. Long story.

The following ringtone maker guide will work on Windows Vista and XP. First, acquire the sound file you would like turned into a ringtone. Next, download a program called Audacity over at Sourceforge.com. Install it, and then install an MP3 encoder called LAME. The install wizard version can be found at: http://lame.buanzo.com.ar - this is the file that will automatically install in Windows.

Now open Audacity and drag your sound file onto the Audacity window. Hit play and you can hear the entire song or sound. At this point you need to find a 30 second or shorter clip that will make the perfect ringtone. Clicking and dragging will highlight the parts you want to delete. Once it's highlighted just hit delete. Repeat this before and after the sound you want until it sounds perfect, making sure there is a buffer either at the beginning or the end so when the sound loops, the end won't run immediately into the beginning - unless you want it to.

Once finished hit file - export as MP3. WAV files will not work on some phones, so be sure to select MP3. This option will only work if you have LAME installed. After choosing a folder to save it in, it will ask you if you want to find the dll file associated with LAME. Navigate to the folder you installed it in (c:/program files/LAME or something like that) and then click on the correct library file. There should only be one file visible.

The hard part is finished! Now, some phones are weird when it comes to uploading new ringtones. Sometimes, you can send the file as an attachment in an E-mail and then save the attachment into your ringers folder. Sometimes you can transfer the file from your computer to your cell phone's SD card. I have a Sprint LG Rumor 2 and neither option worked.

Thankfully I came across http://www.funformobile.com/ - here you can upload your sound files for free and then have them sent to your phone as a ringer. On the homepage to the left, select upload ringtone. On the next page you enter your cell phone number and your carrier. On the same page you upload your file and name it. Hit upload, and then a message is instantly sent to your phone. Follow the link in your text message to download the file. I've used this service. There are no viruses, and your cell number won't go to a spam farm. It works perfectly!
Have fun experimenting with songs, sounds and alerts and before long you will have created a free and unique cell phone ringer that only took minutes to make.