If you own GarageBand 4 then you can use it to create your iPhone ringtones. The latest version – at the time of this writing it’s 4.1.2 – lets you drag and drop any song into the GarageBand 4 window. The problem is that GarageBand won’t import protected songs from iTunes that you have purchased from the iTunes store.  That’s right – you paid for the song, you paid for GarageBand 4, but you can’t create a ringtone for your iPhone from the two.  Well, for those of you who have songs from other…ahem…sources, here’s how you create an iPhone ringtone in GarageBand.

After dragging a song onto the GarageBand interface, click the Cycle Region button.

You’ll see a yellow bar appear at the top. That bar can be dragged left and right as well as made larger or smaller. You can then select the area of the song you want to create a ringtone from. Be sure to select 40 seconds or less.

Once you’re ready, click the Share menu and select Send Ringtone to iTunes. That’s it!