Apple launches iPhone custom ringtones and iTunes 7.4

One of the first things announced tonight at Apple's product launch was a new ringtones feature for its iTunes Store. iPhone owners will be able to create their own ringtones from more than a million "participating songs" on the store (presumably the labels/publishers for the other five million tracks on the iTunes Store haven't signed on the dotted line yet).

The pricing model is a bit rum, if I'm honest. You have to buy a full song first, and THEN pay $0.99 to choose any 30-second segment of the song as your ringtone. The custom bit is cool, the paying extra when you've already downloaded the track isn't so cool, although I daresay Apple will argue that $1.98 for a full track AND ringtone is good value.

The feature won't go live until later this month, but Apple has released iTunes 7.4 today, the latest update to the iTunes application. New features include the ability to watch films and TV shows filling the whole iTunes window, and also the option to rate whole albums as well as individual tracks.

Today's other Apple posts
Apple debuts iPod Touch with touchscreen, Wi-Fi, Safari and YouTube
Apple unveils new iPod Nano with widescreen video and games
Apple introduces iPod Classic: up to 160GB and 40 hours battery life
New iPod models: UK pricing confirmed
iPhone price cut to $399 in the US, but no UK launch news
Apple and Starbucks: a match made in iPod / iPhone heaven?
Tech Digest's Liveblog of the Apple launch
Shiny Shiny's Liveblog of the Apple launch