Switched

Sometimes we just can't help it -- we have to try things out for ourselves. So when Apple launched its new ringtone service for iPhones today, we had to give it a spin. We're not usually advocates of buying ringtones (since just about every single smartphone in the Universe lets you use MP3 files that you already own as ringtones), but we're talking iPhone here. Yes, we're suckers.

The process began with a painless iTunes update.


Annoying Thing Number One
Once installed, we went to the iTunes store to find some music that a) we like and b) actually has a ringtone available. Enter annoying thing number one: Unfortunately, most of our favorite songs haven't been made into ringtones: Nothing from The Jam, The Kooks, and the only Smiths song available as a ringtone is a quiet one that would get no one's attention (Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want).

Annoying Thing Number Two
We finally found a song we'd like as a ringtone, "Hey" by Oingo Boingo. So here comes annoying thing number two. We already owned the CD in question, but since we didn't buy it on iTunes, we had to re-buy the song before we could even then go and buy the ringtone. In the end, we paid for the song three times (once for the CD, once for the iTunes track, and once to turn it into a ringtone).

Annoying Thing Number Three
So we bought song, and the song was downloaded to our iTunes library. Now what? Here comes annoying thing number three. Turned out we had to tell iTunes to check which songs are "cleared" for ringtones. After doing so, a little bell showed up next to our purchased song and looked like we were ready to go, buuuut it forced us through a terms of service so we knew what we were getting into with ringtones. This was just a formality, but a time-consuming one at that.


The built-in iTunes ringtone editor is actually pretty cool - you can create ringtones up to 30 seconds of any part of the song. It's easy to set your in/out points and turn on and off fade in/out. After some tinkering, we were happy with our ringtone.


Annoying Thing Number Four
The joy ended quickly -- here comes annoying thing number four. Yes, another Buy button, this time for the ringtone itself. Time to pay for our song...again (even though we did all the work). So, we hit the Buy button, and, after a few seconds, the new ringtone showed up in our new Ringtones panel.,

So we synced our iPhone and hope for the best. Done! Yes! But...wait.

Annoying Thing Number Five
Here comes annoying thing number five. After a five-minute sync, our computer told us that "Hey!" was not copied to the iPhone because the computer was not authorized to play it. Yay for multi-layered DRM copy protection! Even though we bought the song on that computer, it was still not authorized. So we authorized both files (the song and the ringtone, mind you) and gave it another spin, crossing our fingers.


Success! We had our ringtone!

Was it worth it? We spent $1.98 to buy the song twice (once as a full song and once as a ringtone) and trundled through five annoying things, but we now have one our favorite songs as a ringtone on our iPhone. Should you try it? If you have the cash and must have that one song as a ringtone, go for it. Otherwise, you're stuck with Apple's pre-loaded ringtones until they add more (which we're confident will happen at some point).

Related Links:

• Apple Adds Wi-Fi and Ringtones to iTunes
• iPhone Hacked for Custom Ringtones
• Apple Offers $100 to Slighted iPhoners