[Tutorial] Make iPhone ringtones for free using audacity

Things you'll need (This only works with Windows or OS X unless you are using iTunes under WINE on Linux. Not sure if this will work on WINE as I haven't been able to test it yet.)

Audacity
Newest iTunes
iPhone (Doesn't need to be jail broken)
Full MP3 of a song. May not use songs bought from iTunes store as Audacity doesn't open them correctly.

First download Audacity if you haven't already. Make sure you have the newest iTunes version.

Navigate to the MP3 of the song you want to use as a ringtone. Right click the file and open with... -> Audacity.
(I'll be using the theme song from Scrubs, Lazlo Bane's I'm No Superman, for this tutorial.)

As you can see it shows you the whole song with all its wavey glory. Don't worry if you don't have two channels up. It's not a requirement. Play through the song a few times and find the place where you want to start the ringtone. Play through the song untill that point and then hit PAUSE (Not stop yet) then highlight the part before starting from the begining of the song untill the line that appears where you paused the song. Then hit STOP and then hit delete on the key board. You may want to zoom in to get a better view.

The beginning part of the song should be gone now. Now to cut out the rest of the song. Play through from the beginning of the tone to the part where you want to end the ringtone. Hit PAUSE then highlight starting from the END of the song to the line, then hit STOP and delete. the rest of the song should be gone now. Might want to zoom in again to get a better view.

Now were done with the most technical aspect of the thing. Make sure that its how you want it. Now, to be able to export the file as an MP3 you'll need to download the LAME MP3 Encoder.

Windows: http://lame.buanzo.com.ar/libmp3lame-win-3.97.zip

When you have finished downloading the ZIP folder, unzip it and save the file lame_enc.dll that it contains to anywhere on your computer. Then go to File -> Export... then save the ringtone somewhere as a .mp3. Audacity will ask you where lame_enc.dll is saved.

OS X: http://lame.buanzo.com.ar/libmp3lame-osx-universal-3.97.zip

When you have finished downloading, use Stuffit Expander to extract the files. (This may happen automatically.) Save the file called "LameLib" or libmp3lame.dylib anywhere on your computer. The go to File -> Export... then save the ringtone somewhere as a .MP3. Audacity will ask you where LameLib or libmp3lame.dylib is saved.

Now open iTunes. Navigate to the MP3 of the ringtone in Finder or Explorer what have you, then drag the file into iTunes. Right click the file and hit Convert to ACC.

Navigate to your iTunes music folder and find the converted ACC file. Remember that it might be under Unknown Artist. Then to be able to do the next step you have to modify the way that finder/explorer shows files. I only know how to do this in Windows so if anyone knows how to do this in OS X please post and I'll edit this with the information.

Windows: Go to Tools -> Folder Options... -> View and uncheck hide known file extensions.

OS X: To come soon hopefully.

Then rename the file from SongName.m4a to SongName.m4r
This should change the icon to RING at the bottom. Then open it in iTunes and it should show up under Ringtones in the source menu. the plug in your iPhone and import the tone onto the iPhone and viola! you've created your first free ringtone for your iPhone happy