Remember the days when getting a ringtone up on the iPhone was about as hard as, say, fixing the economy? There were all kinds of programs you had to mess around with, and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't, and most of the time, it just wasn't worth the trouble. Cut ahead a year from those days of yore to right now, and look at this -- all you need to get a ringtone of almost any song you want is iTunes itself.

If you want to do anything more fancy, you'll need GarageBand (and you've got it anyway, so follow Steven's guide if you'd rather do that), but as CNET shows, iTunes will let you choose the start and stop times of a song, and converting to AAC from mp3 will let you cut it down to just those times. Pull it out of iTunes, rename the extension, drag it back into iTunes (making sure to delete the version that's already in there), and voila, custom ringtone.

Note, however, that it doesn't work for music with DRM on it, but it does work for music you rip from a CD. One favor to ask, though: don't really put Young Jeezy on your ringtone -- those 'tones are obnoxious. How about a little Miles Davis instead?

Apple released iTunes version 8.0.1 earlier today. This update is 58.8MB in size, and features the following changes:

• Seamlessly plays the current song when creating a new Genius playlist.
• Improves syncing spoken menus to iPod nano.
• Addresses an issue of deleting HD TV episodes when downloading.
• Improves checking for updates from the App Store
• Improves accessibility with VoiceOver.
• Addresses problems syncing Genius results to iPod.

That's quite a detailed release note from Apple! You can get your copy now via Software Update. Let us know if you experience any trouble.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

If you downloaded the freebie episode of the week from iTunes, then chances are you saw some vintage Apple hardware. That's because episode 1 of Chuck's second season features one of the original Macs in it. It's kinda funny that they're supposed to be building a new system to take over Chuck's job, but they use some really old hardware (at least it's a Mac). Still, this is consistent with last year's premiere, which featured a Mac Plus at the core of the CIA system.

We won't spoil the episode ending, but it involves the Mac blowing up (just sayin'). This is, however, an awesome start to another season of Chuck.

It is ironic that most of the computers in the show are Macs ... despite the fact that it airs on NBC. Get this free episode while you still can! It's definitely worth a watch.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

After testing TuneRanger over the past few days and not getting very good results, yesterday I had a chance to test Sonzea's Syncopation, which was recommended by several TUAW readers.

Like TuneRanger, Syncopation works by synchronizing multiple iTunes libraries. Unlike TuneRanger, Syncopation is a Universal Binary Mac-only product. Syncopation has a free 30-day demo which you can install on one computer. For access to all program features you must buy the full license for $24.95. This allows you to synchronize up to 5 Macs.

The initial install was simple, and I had it up and running quickly -- until I discovered I was quickly running out of space on my Mac Mini. Normally, the mini uses an external drive for the iTunes library given that space on the core drive is limited. I wrote to the developer who responded quickly.

The good news is that the iTunes Store is about to gain an additional 6,000 artists, and the great news is that they're all unsigned.

Distorted Loop is reporting that Apple has signed a deal with Pure Play Music to add their artists to the iTunes Store, accounting for more that 1 million tracks. eMusic, Amazon and Napster are also a part of the deal.

"The new era of distribution is now," said Richard Labrum, Vice President of Business Affairs at Pure Play, "and we are thrilled to take the leadership role."

Wow, an executive who gets it. Someone send this guy a box of Cuban cigars. I say the more indies in the iTunes Store the better. Recently, I was forced to listen to FM radio (for the first time in years) during a 3-hour car ride. It was torture. Perhaps I've been spoiled by the instant gratification of an iPod -- listening to exactly what I want to hear exactly when I want to hear it -- but I couldn't wait to get out of that car.

I thought, "There must be better music out there." There is, but you won't hear it on commercial radio.

[VIa MacNN]

I went hands on with Smith Micro's TuneRanger application. TuneRanger, which retails for $30, allows you to synchronize iTunes libraries across your local network. Let me start by saying this is going to be a very mixed review.

The idea behind TuneRanger is brilliant. You can merge, synchronize, or transfer your iTunes library and when you update on different computers, TuneRanger will sync those changes so your library is the same regardless of the computer. Your single license allows you to use the program on up to 5 computers, both Mac and Windows.

The problem with TuneRanger is that I couldn't recommend it to my mom or some friends without knowing in advance that I'd be spending significant time on the phone for support. It's just buggy, complicated, and crashy enough to make that a problem while at the same time it's powerful and reliable enough for anyone who has reasonable computer savvy. It's more of a "I'll come over on Saturday and sync your system" package than a "Just download this and press the button" one.

Take for example, the standard sync options. I expected that I could select Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, Audio Books, etc. Instead, the program uses file types: mp3, m4p, m4a, m4b, aac, ipg, etc. So on my initial syncs, none of my unusual file types transferred; plus I had to hand-edit out m4v and mp4 to keep my video collection from slowing down the works. Once edited, there was no "revert to standard" button option, so it's a good thing I wrote down the names of the file types that I'd taken out.

The program is just marginally stable rather than fully stable. I could transfer data when running from my G4 Power PC, but for some reason the program balked whenever I tried running from my Intel Mac Mini and connecting to the Power PC server. I dealt with several crashes -- not a big deal because the next sync simply skips the items that had finished -- plus errors. The error message was this: "Error," which is not very helpful when you're trying to figure out why a problem occurred.

Also be aware that the process is slooooow. In addition to any normal network bandwidth issues, the program's processing overhead means this is an overnight or multi-day process that you're looking at.

So here's the bottom line: TuneRanger is an app that I know I'm going to love but one that still needs a little growing and maturing before I can whole-heartedly tell people to buy it without caveats.

Maybe I'm not paying attention (likely), but Derek B. told us about something in iTunes 8 that I'd never seen before -- you can organize your music in Grid view by genre, and when you do, there are some pretty good-looking icons that show up for each genre. I especially like the Blues and Jazz icons (nice nod to the old Blue Note Records in there), but all of them have a pretty neat vibe, summing up each genre as best they can in a colorful little box.

Of course, there will always be more music out there than boxes to put it into, and so Derek B has started up a Flickr group to come up with icons for some of the more obscure genres out there. Replacing the icons is pretty easy to do, and there's even an app that will let you do it with ease -- just find the icon you want, and tie it to your genre. As you can see above, if you don't have an icon for the listed genre, it'll show off your album art (and just like iPhoto, mousing over the picture will let you flip through whatever albums are in there). It's kind of a weird thing to add into iTunes (and it's kind of tough to line them all up -- it's too bad iTunes won't pull down genres for music it recognizes from the iTunes store), but odds are we'll see these icons pop up more later, so getting them all lined up now is probably worth it.

Parallels must be feeling a little pressure from the big Fusion release earlier this week -- they're throwing in some music when you pick up their app. By visiting this iTunes page on their website and buying the virtualization software, which lets you run Windows or Linux virtual machines within OS X, you can nab a $25 gift card to iTunes as well.

If you've been interested in trying some virtualization software (they're certainly a plucky group of devs) and haven't yet been enticed to do so, maybe some free iTunes money will do the trick. The offer expires in about a week and a half, so you've got a little time to think it over. $25 in iTunes goes a long way these days -- that's eight HD shows of The Office, or 25 Koi Ponds!

Thanks Phill

Sam, an avid TUAW reader, emailed us about a recent DVD purchase he made. You may ask, "what's so special about that?" Well, he bought a copy of Speed Racer that was supposed to contain an iTunes Digital Copy.

As you can see in the pictures he emailed us, the outside of the DVD box says it is PC/Mac compatible and works with iTunes. When he got home and opened it up, however, inside the box it says that it is "Not compatible with Apple Macintosh or iPod devices." He even tried it to see if it would work, but alas it didn't. Be sure to take a look at the pictures in the second half of the post, and you can get an eyeful of this strange decision that Warner Bros. made.

Do you think Sam should be able to get a refund for this mistake? We certainly do! Has this happened to you? Be sure to sound off in the comments!

Thanks for the tip and pictures, Sam!

A hacker who found a vulnerability in QuickTime said he posted the attack code online after Apple ignored him for a month.

The code exploits a flaw in QuickTime that causes a crash when a unusually-long parameter is passed along with a movie file. While it's not demonstrated, the hacker claims that "code execution may be possible."

With Leopard, address space randomization makes it more difficult to execute code in memory spaces left after a crash. Earlier operating systems (like Tiger and Panther) may still be vulnerable.

Apple hasn't released any guidelines to avoid the problem, as it does in high-risk cases. Intego, in a press release, considered the risk "low" and will be updating its VirusBarrier X5 software if someone creates malicious software based on the attack technique.

Even though the risk may be low, an abundance of caution is always advised. Be careful when opening (or clicking links to) QuickTime files from sources unknown to you. In the past, phishing/malware attacks have been delivered as fake QuickTime or Windows Media codecs, so remember that any executable file you download from an unfamiliar source may be suspect.

[Via InformationWeek and IDG.]

You read that right -- it took the iTunes Store a few years, but as Roughly Drafted has calculated, Apple's App Store is on track, even if growth stops right now, to hit a billion apps served up by 2009. Obviously not all of those are paid apps, but by any count, that's a ton of applications dumped onto iPhones and iPod touches around the world.

That said, the App Store is far from perfect -- Apple's approval process has come under fire lately for a lack of transparency, among other issues, and of course the iTunes Store didn't have the benefit of most of its content being free. Of course the App Store is working to get apps on phones, but there are lots of kinks to be worked out, including just how "open" Apple is letting the store be, questions of quality over the software that does make it in, and just whether it's worth developers' time to deliver these applications anyway.

Just as the iFund guys noted, however, we're only in the first few steps of a marathon here. There's a long way to go, but already, in terms of an iPhone software distribution system, the App Store is a huge success.

[via Ars]

There was a lot of debate last week when Apple rejected the Podcaster app for inclusion in the App Store, saying that it "duplicated iTunes functionality." Rather than taking a stand against programming iPhone apps until Apple's policies shift, like Exposure dev Fraser Spiers, Alex Sokirynsky decided to bypass Apple and distribute the app via Ad Hoc App Distribution.

Many developers use Ad Hoc App Distribution to insure that beta testers and reviewers get copies of their software prior to the App Store release. A developer takes the Unique Device Identifier (UDID) from your iPhone, does a little magic, and then sends you two files -- one contains the app, while the other is a provision file. You drag the provision file to your iTunes Applications window, followed by the app file. A quick sync with your iPhone installs the app, and you're ready to go.

Alex has set up a website where you can sign up to get an Ad Hoc distribution of Podcaster. You'll need to "donate" $9.99 to Alex via PayPal to get the app. I think this is a great way for smaller developers to get their apps out there, particularly when Apple decides to shut 'em down -- although they are sharply limited in the number of licenses they can distribute this way, no more than 100 devices total are allowed.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

Some Windows Vista users are having significant problems using iTunes 8, which crashes the operating system with a "blue screen of death" when an iPod or iPhone is connected to the PC.

Apple today released a tech note, suggesting to uninstall Apple Mobile Device Support, restart the computer, and re-download and re-install the iTunes 8 installer. It's unclear what about Apple Mobile Device Support was causing the problem.

According to Macworld and ZDNet, Apple simply replaced the files associated with Apple Mobile Device Support (usbaapl.sys or usbaapl64.sys) with the versions shipped with iTunes 7.7.

Computerworld highlighted several irate comments from an Apple Discussions thread on the subject, including precious gems such as "I love how Apple owns up to problems... IT'S NOT US! IT MUST BE YOU! OR MICROSOFT! OR YOUR MOUSE! OR YOUR CHAIR!"

Adorable.

The feature of iTunes 8 that Apple wants to you notice is called "Genius." Basically, it generates playlists, either from your songs or the iTunes Store, based upon a track selected from your library. In this post, we'll look at creating and saving a Genius playlist on your Mac.

First, select the target track in your library. I wanted to generate a playlist for work, so I selected a mellow track by Band of Horses. Next, click the Genius button (with the icon) in the lower right-hand corner of the iTunes window.

Presto! Your playlist is created. But there's still room for tweaking. At the top of the window, you'll see the track upon which your new playlist is based. Next to that, a drop-down menu lets you select the number of songs to include. Choose from 25, 50, 75 or 100.

Finally, you can exclude an individual song by deselecting the gray checkbox next to its title. When you're happy with the result, click "Save Playlist" in the upper right-hand corner.

Your new playlist will now appear with the others, named for the original target song.