Creating your own ringtone of 40 seconds or less from your iTunes library is a great way to save cash on your iTunes account and still have tones that no one else has. With these steps you can do this quickly and easily, and you’ll only need the help of a couple free third-party Mac programs such as Audacity and MakeiPhoneRingtone to make it work.

Whenever I get a new phone, one of the first things I do is check out what ringtones come built in. It used to be quite costly to buy a new ringtone of your favorite song, and the quality wasn’t always great. The iPhone is no exception to this, but rather than paying for new ringtones, how about creating your own from your own iTunes library, or any sound or video file for that matter? RingtoneStudio 2 makes it possible and incredibly easy to do, giving you a top quality ringtone before you can say “polyphonic.”

GarageBand ’09 is one of the three apps that received major updates in iLife ’09. This year, Apple has set its sights on music teachers with Learn to Play and the Lesson Store. Now with GarageBand’s help, you might finally learn how to play the guitar.

What good are media files on an iPhone if you can’t turn them into an awesome ringtone? None. Well at least that’s what Information Appliance Associates thinks. =That’s why they have announced their PocketMac RingtoneStudio for iPhone, “…a new tool that gives iPhone users the power to convert almost any media file on their Macs more »

RingtoneFeeder is trying out a new way of distributing music, and they are calling it Dynamic Albums. Using Geoff Smith’s “Ones and 0s” album as the first go at this, RingtoneFeeder will give you certain items at the purchase of the product in the form of an iTunes podcast feed. Then, every two weeks or more »

Ambrosia Software, Inc. has announced the release of iToner 1.0.7. This update of the highly popular iPhone custom ringtone transfer tool offers support for iPhone OS 1.1.4, along with other bug fixes and improvements. Exempt from per-ringtone fees, iToner lets you easily transfer your own MP3, AAC, WAVE, and AIFF audio files to your iPhone, and enjoy them as custom ringtones. Simply drag and drop your favorite audio files onto the elegant and familiar interface, and click the Sync button. Your custom ringtones are instantly accessible from your iPhone.

I’ve been using iToner for some time now, and have found that the Super Mario Brothers Underworld Theme is a pretty decent ringtone. Or, if you’re the type who forgets to shut off his ringtone, using the sound of chewing popcorn while in a movie theater or shouting an “Amen!” while in church can spare you some embarrassment. And while each update to the iPhone OS seems to break iToner, Ambrosia tends to be very quick with the updates.

More on the update after the break.

This just in from the NY Post. On September 5th, Apple is supposedly going to announce custom ringtones for the iPhone. Users can buy a song from the iTunes music store and select a portion of it as the ringtone. In stark contrast, offerings from rival providers like Sprint or T-Mobile are currently pre-determined. The more »