Add any audio file as ringtone to your iPhone using Fission and MakeiPhoneRingtone

When I had posted an article about Ringtonator, an iPhone application which automated the ultimate ringtone hack discovered by Cleverboy, Christian Portwine one of the readers @ iPhoneHacks.com suggested in the comments that MakeiPhoneRingtone was a much better solution which readers Jahnn and Dennis also seemed to agree. So I thought it would be a good idea to write an article on the iPhone application from Rogue Amoeba for the benefit of other readers who might have missed the tip in the comments.
Make iPhone Ringtone makes use of the more stable "stik" method of creating ringtones and is compatible with iTunes 7.4.1, the ultimate ringtone hack discovered by Cleverboy. (read, iPhoneHacks.com, iPhone hacking genius reveals yet another ringtone hack)
Rogue Amoeba with MakeiPhoneRingtone has made the process of adding custom ringtones as easy as possible, all you need to do is drag and drop AAC file onto this tiny app, and like magic they'll show up in the iPhone ringtones tab. Sync your iPhone and they'll ready for use.

However, MakeiPhoneRingtone currently only works with AAC files, so in order to convert any audio file into a ringtone you can make use of Fission again from Rogue Amoeba. Fission is a streamlined audio editor designed to get you editing in minutes. Fission lets you copy, paste and trim audio, as well as split files, all with no quality loss and more importantly convert any audio file into an AAC file which can then be added as a ringtone using MakeiPhoneRingtone.
It would have been great if all this can be done in just one application, however, Rogue Amoeba are currently using a wait and watch approach as one would expect Apple to soon fix the bug the way they were quick to fix the file renaming bug. If MakeiPhoneRingtone does turn out to be a workable solution even with future versions of iTunes, they plan to integrate it right into Fission.
Unfortunately, for Windows users both MakeiPhoneRingtone and Fission are currently only available for Mac OS.
There have been some interesting discussions surrounding Apple's decision of charging for ringtones with varying opinions and if it legal to make your own ringtone. You might be interested in reading:

• The Ringtones Racket by John Gruber at Daring Fireball
• Why Apple Charges $0.99 To Crop A Ringtone? by Edward Kirk over at iPhone Alley
• Know Your Rights: Is it illegal to make my own ringtones? by Nilay Patel @ Engadget

In my opinion, at least for now, the process of adding ringtones using iPhone hacks is so easy it is difficult to see iPhone users shelling out the additional 99c. iPhone users have clearly shown their intent, an overwhelming majority as per the poll I had taken recently have decided that they do not want to pay for ringtones and they will use such free iPhone hacks or even pay a one-time fee for iPhone applications like iToner or RingToneMake to add custom ringtones to their iPhone. Let me know what you think by taking this poll. 
Click here to download MakeiPhoneRingtone.
Click here to download Fission.
Update:
 MakeiPhoneRingtone is not currently compatible with iTunes 7.4.2. Folks at Rogue Amoeba are currently researching this and hope to have an update to restore compatibility. In the meantime, they recommend sticking with iTunes 7.4.1 in case you want MakeiPhoneRingtone to work.