When the iPhone had its own successful launch this past June, thousands of people grabbed it even if it had one of the biggest limitations any cell phone could ever have — no customizable ringtones. That was a big shock, especially since many thought Apple would’ve introduced a ringtone store in iTunes at the very least. Well, whether Apple wanted it to happen or not — ringtones are now being easily added to iPhones everywhere — as part of one of the most popular hacks for the device right now.

There are more than a handful of hacking utilities available for the iPhone right now. The most popular alternative for the Mac has become — without surprise — iFuntastic. This hacking utility allows for many mods to take place in the iPhone’s software including, but not limited to, custom ringtones. In fact, the latest version of iFuntastic (3.0) can easily extract any of those 30-second song previews from the iTunes Store, and add them to the iPhone as ringtones. Yes, they’re more than a perfect fit at thirty seconds — not to mention that they’re free (although it’s not clearly known just how legal this is).

But the most effective method yet for adding ringtones arrived last Friday in the form of an app called iToner. This little utility from Ambrosia Software can add any audio file in either MP3 or AAC format as a ringtone — most importantly, without hacking or “unjailing” your iPhone. Ambrosia is even guaranteeing that your ringtones will remain intact through whatever firmware updates Apple may issue for the iPhone. Even though iToner may seem as the best bet right now for iPhone ringtones, but it does come with a price: $15 dollars.

But has iToner come in too late? It is believed that Apple will be launching the rumored ringtone store at their upcoming media this Wednesday — not to mention those new and long-rumored iPods. Actually, who knows what we’ll be seeing there. But if that ringtone store does become a reality, iToner may seem as a good deal on the long-run: $15 versus $*insert what you may spend on ringtones here*. I’ll try to get iToner for a review down the road. But for now, keep your eyes open on Wednesday for new stuff!

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[tags]Apple,Mac[/tags]