Ok, I want to do a *really* simple bit of sound editing ... easy tools?

[NotQuiteCockney]

I want to be able to take songs and take bits from them, for my ringtone. Sad, I know. If I know I want song X, but if the very start of it is just too quiet/fiddly to work, surely I should be able to make a new MP3 thingie ... (I'm on a PC, by the way. I bet macs do this really easily ...)

Try Audacity (google it, it's a free dwnload) You can split a recording into different tracks. You can download tutorials and detailed instructions of how to use it, looks hard to start with but tis ok. hth