how can I add ringtones without them appearing in the Music App?

Putting a .nomedia file indeed makes the files invisible to the Audio Player application (maybe it didn't work for you because you had a hidden filename extension on it, e.g. .nomedia.txt?) - but unfortunately, that makes the files invisible to the telephone as well, so the ringtones will no longer work

I haven't found a solution yet. Either the files show up in Audio Player and are available as ring or message notification tones, or neither...

Just jumping on this thread I am trying something similar (getting an mp3 to play when text message arrives) have read about making 3 new subfolders. However I cannot get the root folder of the internal sd card to show so I can add folders. No sign of Media\Audio\Ringtones etc can only browse using Kies tried mass storage but cannot see the drives on Win 7 32 bit ultra.
They show on devices but not on explorer.
I tried using kries to add folders but the \ forward slash comes out a weird w type symbol.

Can anyone help with a step by step guide please?

thanks

magpie

That's the Won currency symbol (the south Korean currency). Believe it or not, but Koreans are actually used to that being the path separator, even though it looks terribly odd. But it works just the same, so you can just use it.

Or connect the phone in Mass Storage mode, then you can directly access the internal phone storage (in my case under the _second_ drive letter created for the phone for some reason, whereas the first points to the MicroSD card I installed in the phone) and create the needed directories and place your audio files there.

Spent last couple of hours trying to get Kies working to no avail.  Reinstalling, redownloading/installing, crying, nothing worked.  It just refuses to see the phone. Brilliant, stuck with crap standard tones.  Perhaps I'll give it to my daughter and get my old Nokia back!
Then I find this thread and Rob's suggestion of Ringdroid!  2 minutes later and I've downloaded, installed it and changed my tones!  What an excellent app.
Thanks Robert S, you saved my Galaxy's life!
 

Organize your ringtones into a folder, separate from your music. Then using a notepad from your PC, save a blank file with the extension .nomedia and copy it into that ringtone folder in your device. Restart your device.

Make sure that it is just .nomedia, NOT .nomedia.txt or anything else.

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Sent from my Galaxy S using Tapatalk

No, not file name, just the extension - .nomedia as like .txt or .doc.
When you save the file with notepad, make sure you choose "All Files" as the "Save as type".
Or you can use the attached below.

Yes, you can put the same .nomedia into any folder with audios, which you don't want to show up in the media player.

NOT WORKING FOR RINGTONES

And the result is: Your ringtones no longer work and the phone falls back to the default ringtones.

There is no solution for your ringtones, AFAIK. Either they're visible to the Music Player as well, or they will not work as ringtones either.