Apple's custom ringtones

Apple chief Steve Jobs today introduced custom ringtones for iPhone owners during the company's special event in San Francisco. "We're going to ship a new version of iTunes tonight to support some new products," Jobs said. "The biggest new feature: ringtones." Apple's boss unveiled ringtones Apple-style, allowing iPhone users to create their own ringtones from any one of half a million songs available on iTunes. "Our ringtones are going to cost just $0.99 in addition to the song," Jobs told onlookers seated in the Moscone Center. "Here's how it works: When you plug in your iPhone a new column will pop up with bells that show how many songs you can make ringtones out of." Users can choose any segment up to 30 seconds long, and can fade in/out for smoother rings. "When you're ready to buy, push the buy button and for $0.99 you have a ringtone."

Jobs demonstrated two ringtones on-stage, and joked about assigning "Give Peace a Chance" by The Beatles to incoming calls from NBC -- the company which recently pulled its TV shows from Apple's iTunes Store and partnered with Amazon.com to offer its digital content instead.

Returning to Apple's own ringtones, Jobs offered a summary of the steps required to create and purchase ringtones.

"You can assign [any participating song] as your default ringtone, or to your favorite people when they call. Custom ringtone maker built in, over half a million participating songs, sync 'em right on your iPhone. We're going to turn this on next week. You'll need the new version of iTunes we're going to ship tonight. So that's the first thing today."

Coverage courtesy of Engadget.

by MacNN Staff