Apple Tuesday began offering specialized ringtones playlists in iTunes for people wanting to buy a song and the ringtone version of that song for an iPhone.

Sounds like a nice feature, since it provides people with a simple way to find ringtones via genre. But, the solution avoids customers’ wishes for an ringtone-maker that can use any sound files.

The ringtones issue has caught Apple some serious flack from some of its regular praisers, such as Macworld and iLounge. The criticism began before ringtones were offered and continued when Apple blocked iPhones from using third-party software to create ringtones. The negative reaction hasn’t stopped, now that Apple is offering some songs that can be used as ringtones, only after being bought and then rebought as a ringtone.

Irvine-based iLounge.com has criticized Apple’s ringtones in the past, writing that: “this limitation is entirely artificial.” iLounge suggests Apple “either unlock the iTunes ringtone creator, or stop blocking users from adding their own 30-second or shorter audio clips to the iPhone’s list of ringtones.”

Apple needs to respond to the ringtone complaints with one of the elegant solutions that have become the company’s bread and butter.

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