HOWTO: Set MP3s as Ring Tones for Free [Verizon]
[ 25 January 2007 ]
Marked under mobile, multimedia.

NOTE: This will actually cost you the amount it costs to receive a Pix Msg on your cellphone; probably $0.25…so it’s basically free (compared to the $2.99 it costs on your phone).

I recently received a new cell phone, the LG Chocolate. I was tired of flip phones, so I wanted to try something new and interesting. The Chocolate supports MP3s, however they cannot be set as ring tones. I decided I’d still want to get some sort of music ring tone — nothing special. All you need to do is create a small MP3 sample (about 30 seconds), email it to your phone, and set the attached song as a ring tone.

First, choose a good track

First, find an MP3 you want as your ring tone. It’s best to edit it down to about 30 seconds; you don’t need the entire song. If you want to edit the audio, download a copy of Audacity (free and easy-to-use). Make a copy of the song, open the copy in Audacity, and cut it down to about 30 seconds. You will need the free “LAME MP3 encoder,” so download a copy. Once you have it, unzip lame_enc.dll and save it somewhere on your computer (just toss it in C:\Program Files\Audacity\). When you try to export your song as an MP3, Audacity will ask you where the LAME encoder file is. Just browse to it and select it.

Send to your phone via email

Now that you have your desired ringtone in MP3 format, attach it to an email and send the message to your10digitphonenumber@vzwpix.com (similar to sending txt msgs via email). You will get a new Pix msg on your cellphone. Open the message and in the options menu (which may be different on all phones) select Save As Ringtone. The attached song will be saved as a ringtone on your phone.

That’s about it. The quality of these ring tones may not be very good. I think it’s really up to the MP3 you edit, the quality of the export from Audacity, and your cellphone. If you feel the quality is too poor, I understand…just purchase your tones through GetItNow. If you want something simple and cheap, then try this out.

Also, please post any alternate methods or some good improvements to this method.

“The problem with troubleshooting is that trouble shoots back.”
          - Author Unknown