1. I am happy to provide this information, but you have to use it at your own discretion. I am not responsible for any problems you may encounter with your computer, your iTunes, your iPhone, or any other electronic device even surrounding said items.
2. I am not your tech support. I will answer questions (if there are any posted in the comments) to the best of my ability a) if I know the answer and/or b) if I feel like it.
3. I tested this on my MacBook Pro using Leopard, iTunes 8, and my original iPhone ((no iPhone 3G for me 🙂 )) I also tested these steps on my PC using XP and iTunes 8.
4. No animals were hurt during this process.

The Steps

Step 1: Paging Captain Obvious! Step 1 is to determine what song you want to use. NOTE: This process will not work for songs actually purchased through iTunes. If you ponied up the cash for a song in iTunes, pony up the additional $1 to create a ringtone.

Step 2: While listening to the song, note the start and stop times of the snippet you’d like to use. You’ll need to keep this gem shorter than 40 seconds.

Step 3: When you’ve determined the length of your ringtone and are armed with the start and stop times, right-mouse click on the song in iTunes, select “get info” and then the “options” tab.

Enter your start and stop times in minutes:seconds (like 00:10) and click “ok”.

Step 4 ITUNES 8 OR OLDER: Right-mouse click on the track again and select “create AAC version”. This will create a new file with just the snippet of time you selected. It does not modify your original in any way.

Step 4 ITUNES 9: With the music track selected, click on “Advanced” in the menu bar and select “Create AAC Version”. This will create a new file with just the snippet of time you selected. It does not modify your original in any way.

Step 5: When the “duplicate” file appears in your iTunes, right-mouse click on it and select “delete”. Click on “remove” for the first pop-up asking if you are sure you want to remove the song from the playlist. Then click on “keep file”. DO NOT send the file to the recycle bin.

Step 6: Now you need to find the new file, which was saved in the same place as your original file and has the exact same name, with a few exceptions. ((The fact that you’re following these steps leads me to believe you know a little somethin’ somethin’ about your computer and where your files are stored. 😉 If not, leave a comment and I’ll try and help.))

1. The new, snippet version will have a file extension of .m4a.
2. If you are using a song that you ripped from a CD using iTunes and all of these files have the .m4a extension, don’t fret. Your snippet is the one with a 1 appended to the file name. 😀

Step 7: Once you’ve located your new snippet .m4a file, change the extension to m4r. You’ll be warned this will self-destruct your computer. Do it anyway.

Step 8: Only 6 more steps to go. Kidding! Now just double click on your .m4r file and it should open in iTunes under ringtones, and be ready to sync.

Step 9: Sync.

These steps actually work. ((At least they did for me and Topsurf!)) I hope someone else will find this handy. Now go forth and (ringtone) prosper!

Thank you to duchesssa at stock.xchng for the fabulous dancing girls. 😀

I have to admit, I’m stealing using an idea I found on the blog of someone requesting a 10 things review. I found the idea of my week in tweets an intriguing one so I’ve gone back through my week of plurks, and picked some gems for you. 🙂

May 1 WebBetty shares WTF???

May 1 WebBetty shares Patrick broke ranks and chose drag over the bow tie.

May 1 WebBetty really hates IE6. Seriously–everyone who still uses it needs to upgrade!

May 4 WebBetty gets really frustrated when everyone assumes I can do all kinds of peripheral work just because I work from home.

May 5 WebBetty is NOT ready for the boys to get bunk beds this weekend!

May 5 WebBetty is having a battle of the wills with The Bear. ((Which I won, BTW. 😉 ))

May 6 WebBetty is at Wet ‘N Wild! ((Zachary and I got wet and wild!))

May 7 WebBetty just booked her anniversary trip to Vegas!!! ((Who’s coming with us?!))

May 8 WebBetty says the crib has been taken apart. No more bars for The Bear, Which strikes fear in my heart. 😀

May 8 WebBetty is plurking while the boys do all the heavy lifting.

May 8 WebBetty is amazed. 8 trips back and 75 minutes later, and The Bear is asleep in his bed. No more crib!

May 8 WebBetty says this is the current state of my living room

And now some random plurks from my pleeps:

2ManyBoyz needs a good wake-up slap!

AsianAly says Sammi and I are going to do a walking workout video and apparently it’s pretty hard. How hard is walking in place? 😛

Bronsont says Hell Yes, it’s Hell’s Kitchen. 😛

CarolineFB wonders why.

countess janey says what’s new, Pussycat?

MissCaughtUp Holy crap it is hard to read Old English.

You can catch all of this, and more, at Plurk.

This post was generously brought to you by colon cleanser. Don’t ask. 😉