Monthly Archive for November, 2008

Create iPhone ringtones with iTunes only

Published
by
Chris Pugh
on November 30, 2008
in Audio, Featured Articles, Free Stuff and Media
. 1 Comment

In yesterday’s post I talked about converting MP3 audiobooks for your iPod/iPhone. In today’s post, I will be continuing with the Apple theme and will be talking about creating ringtones for your iPhone using nothing but iTunes.

The first thing you need to do is find a piece of music or audio that you want to use for your ringtone.  Apple has in place a 30 second maximum time limit for ringtones.  You can use 20 seconds, or 10 seconds, but nothing more than 30 will work.  This is a limitation of the iPhone and I haven’t found a way to use more than 30 seconds.  If there’s a way to use more than 30 seconds, I’d like to know.  Let’s get started.

The first thing you need to do is setup the iTunes import options.  Open iTunes and do the following:

Edit > Preferences > General

In the middle of the window, click on “Import Settings”

Make sure “Import Using” is set as “AAC Encoder”.

The Bit Rate can be whatever you want; I choose to leave it at: High Quality (128 Kbps).  Setting this to a higher or lower bitrate will adjust the filesize and sound quality of your ringtone.

Click “Ok” to go back to iTunes.

Now, in iTunes, browse to the song or audio file of your choice and write down the start and stop time for the 30 second block that you want to use as your ringtone.  Next, right click on the song and choose “Get Info” from the menu.  Click on the options tab and in the “Start Time” and “Stop Time” numbers into their respective fields.  Click “Ok” to go back to the display view in iTunes.

Now “Right Click” on the song once more and choose “Create AAC Version”.  Once completed you should see a duplicate copy of your song listed that is only 30 seconds long.  Go ahead and remove this file from the iTunes library making sure to select “Keep Files” when prompted.

Now, in Windows, browse to “My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Name of Band\Etc\” and find the newly created AAC file and rename it from .m4a to .m4r.  Now import the .m4r file back into iTunes using “File > Add File to Library” or drag and drop.  Sync your iPhone and enjoy your new ringtone.

Post image: obihirorabbit

Convert an MP3 Audiobook for iPod/iPhone

Published
by
Chris Pugh
on November 29, 2008
in Audio, Featured Articles and Media
. 0 Comments

I recently purchased an audiobook that came delivered in MP3 format and wanted to import it into the “Audiobooks” section in iTunes.  What I found was that iTunes does not support audiobooks in MP3 format  and that they need to be converted to AAC/M4B (iPod audiobook) files so that iTunes will treat them as an audiobook.

Benefits gained by converting your MP3 Audiobooks to M4B include:

  • Audiobooks appear in the the “Audiobook” section inside iTunes & iPod’s
  • Adjustable playback speed to either slow down or speed up the reading
  • Ability to Stop/Start without losing your place inside the audiobook

For me, the feature I use most is the ability to resume playback at a particular point even if you play something else or turn the iPod off.  There are many online services (eMusic, Zipidee, TPB etc) where you can obtain audiobooks, but most of them are in MP3, which the iPod just treats as a regular music file.  With a few steps, it is easy to convert MP3 files (or any other filetype that iTunes can play) into the native iPod audiobook format.  I’m sure there are a lot of different methods out there, but the following steps work nicely for me.

Configuring iTunes:

Before you convert the files, you must change the import settings in iTunes.  You should only have to do this once.  Open iTunes and do the following:

Edit > Preferences > General

In the middle of the window, click on “Import Settings”

Make sure “Import Using” is set as “AAC Encoder”.

Change “Setting” to “Custom” and set the following options:

Bit Rate: 64kbs (This should be fine, feel free to adjust higher or lower as you see fit)
Channels: Auto (I leave this on “Auto” as I have found no benefit from converting Mono files to Stereo files for spoken word audiobooks)

Instructions:

Create a new playlist and add the files you want to convert.  Once you have imported the files, select them and right-click, and select “Create AAC Version”.  This will add the newly converted files to your library in AAC format.

Once the conversion is complete, remove the original files from your library.  They will no longer be needed for this process.  You can also remove the newly created AAC files from your library, but when you are asked, be sure to select “Keep Files”, so they are not deleted off your hard drive.

On Windows, the newly created files will be stored in “My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Name of Audio Book”.  Browse to this folder now. You should find the new files with an extension of .m4a, these need to be renamed to .m4b so that iTunes will treat them as an audiobook.  Go ahead and do this now.

Now that the files are renamed, you can add them back into your iTunes library (File > Add File to Library or simply drag and drop).  Right-click on the new file(s) in your library and select “Get Info”.

You’ll want to edit the “artist” and “album” fields so that they display correctly and add artwork if you have it.  You can also change the genre of the files to “Audiobooks” using the iTunes tag editor to make the files easier to find when looking through iTunes.

All you have to do now is sync your iPod/iPhone and you should be good to go.  The new audiobook files will show up under the “Audiobooks” menu on your iPod/iPhone, your playback position will be remembered, and they will not get played during song shuffles.  I have not found an easy way to add chapter marks on a Windows machine yet, if I find an easy to use method I will be sure to make note of it.

I have an older third generation iPod as well as a 3G iPhone and while this method works great for me, I cannot promise that it will work for everyone.  Feel free to contact me if you have any issues or questions.

Post Image: dyobmit

How to Lifestream using FriendFeed

Published
by
Chris Pugh
on November 20, 2008
in Social Networking
. 0 Comments

Lifestreaming, in a nutshell, is combining all of your online activity into one place by utilizing RSS feeds and site-to-site integration.  If you’re into the world of Social Media and online Social Networking then I am sure Lifestreaming is not a new concept to you.  If you are currently using sites like Flickr, Facebook, or Twitter, then you are already streaming aspects of your life to the world at large and anyone can dip in and out of what you’re up to at any given moment.  Combining all of these different services into one “feed” is what Lifestreaming is all about.

A couple of reasons why Lifestreaming might be of interest to you:

  • As our world expands, many of our friends and family may live hundreds, if not thousands, of miles apart.  Lifestreaming is a great way to keep people up to date with what they’re doing.
  • Lifestreaming is like an expanded online, interactive, journal.  When you favorite a photo on Flickr your friends will be able to see what interests you.

Lifestreaming isn’t for everyone, but if the idea of “broadcasting” your life is appealing to you; the fine folks over at FriendFeed have made creating your Lifestream a snap.

Here’s how to get started:

  1. Head over to FriendFeed and create an account
  2. Once you get logged in, click on “Account” in the top right hand menu
  3. Click on “add/edit” for Services and then add the services that you use i.e. Flickr, FaceBook, etc…
  4. Upload a picture of yourself to give the page some personality
  5. Change your IM and Email settings

That’s it; you’ve now created a Lifestream using FriendFeed as your host.  You can now send your FriendFeed page to your friends or family members so they can see what you are up to.

Post image: aussiegall