I have 4032 songs purchased from itms. but when i view them in itunes i can't turn them into ringtones, it doesn't even tell me if they are available as ringtones. So what, i have to do it thru the store? find each of my 4032 songs and see if it's available? And buy it again? Dudes, WTF?

They ARE changing the phone industry. But why not fleece a few suckers on the way? Do you think Apple doesn't know that ringtone sales are a huge racket? Do you think Apple doesn't know about iToner?

Oh, you mean the way they suckered people in buying the $600 iPhone only to change its price to $400? Or tieing people to a specific carrier (AT&T) so they can get a cut of the monthly fees, vs. selling the phone unlocked and letting you find a carrier (and don't give me the c*** they needed to do this because of visual voicemail. VV is one of many, many features people want an iPhone for, and its either so minor it doesn't mean anything to most people, or its so major all carriers would change their system to work with it).

Again, suckering people and getting into the huge rackets of the phone industry isn't 'changing' the industry. They only 'change' is they're getting a piece of the pie.

OK mister argumentative. You know as well as I do that nobody was suckered into a $600 iPhone. "Suckered" would mean they bought a $400 iPhone on June 29th and then today were forced to pay another $200 Early Adopter tax to keep it running.

As for the paid ringtones, yeah it is pretty lame. How nice would that have been for Apple to say "Any song you've purchaced from iTunes can be made into a ringtone for free" ? And if the music studios want more from the deal, then Apple eats the cost for us. That would be great. But instead, Apple is charging a competitive price and adding the ability to select your own section. And what I'm SAYING is that they know full well that iToner is another option.

Also, giving AT&T exclusivity and demanding a cut is probably what is allowing them to knock $200 off the price.

Moldyapples: You can get iTunes 7.4 now, and after a few days, the ringtone features will go up (according to Jobs during the Keynote). You should have Bell icons appear next to eliglble tracks next week some time. But REALLY, go get iToner if you plan to buy more than 15.

OK mister argumentative. You know as well as I do that nobody was suckered into a $600 iPhone. "Suckered" would mean they bought a $400 iPhone on June 29th and then today were forced to pay another $200 Early Adopter tax to keep it running.

No, suckered is thinking that the phone cost $600, paying it, then finding out that it would sell for $400 in two months, meaning Apple already knew it was overpriced and gouging its most loyal customers.

As for the paid ringtones, yeah it is pretty lame. How nice would that have been for Apple to say "Any song you've purchaced from iTunes can be made into a ringtone for free" ? And if the music studios want more from the deal, then Apple eats the cost for us. That would be great. But instead, Apple is charging a competitive price and adding the ability to select your own section. And what I'm SAYING is that they know full well that iToner is another option.

Um, how great would it be if Apple just added the ability to make a ring tone right into iTunes, where you could do it on ANY piece of music you already own, and just upload it to the phone. But that's apparently not possible. You HAVE to go through Apple to make your ringtone, and pay them to do it. And you can only do it on a certain set of songs. WTF is all this about, if not just to make money?

Also, giving AT&T exclusivity and demanding a cut is probably what is allowing them to knock $200 off the price.

No, not selling iPhones in enough quantity is what allows them to knock the price down. They were getting the cut before. Were they too stupid to realize they were going to make money on each phone signup and could charge less?

I thought you were being a contrarian. You really don't know anything, do you?