Google recently decided to make my life a lot easier by releasing the changelog for Jelly Bean. Cool!

While, of course, I take issue with its thoroughness, it also wasn't all that accurate when it was first published. It's since been corrected, but the internet never forgets. Check out this Google listing:

Yeah... There isn't actually a ringtone editor in Jelly Bean. Google seems to agree, because, after the initial posting, the mention of the editor was completely removed from the changelog.

So, apparently, the Jelly Bean version of Google Music was supposed to include a ringtone editor, and it was far enough along that it was accidentally included in the changelog. Hmm... I wonder if a decompile will show anything:

Dear God.

Yep. This was definitely cut at the last minute. It seems like almost everything is in the Music APK. You've got a million files referencing a ringtone editor and there's even a folder called "Ringtone." Subtle.

So what do we know about this mysterious ringtone feature? Well, it was going to be (will be?) triggered from the context menus of the Google Music app. "Use as ringtone" would show up next to stuff like "Add to playlist" and "Make instant mix." There are a ton of text entries for the editor:

<string name="ringtone_menu">Use as ringtone</string>

<string name="ringtone_set">\"%s\" set as ringtone.</string>

<string name="ringtone_set_failed">"Couldn't create ringtone."</string>

<string name="ringtone_needs_download">Ringtone will be set when downloaded.</string> <string name="notification_ticker_ringtone_set">Ringtone set to \"%s\".</string>

<string name="notification_title_ringtone_set">Ringtone set to \"%s\"</string>

<string name="notification_content_ringtone_set">Touch to edit this ringtone.</string>

<string name="notification_ticker_ringtone_set_failed">"Couldn't create ringtone."</string> <string name="ringtone_replace_alert_button">Replace</string>

<string name="ringtone_replace_alert_title">Replace ringtone</string>

<string name="ringtone_replace_alert_message">A ringtone with this name already exists. Do you want to replace it?</string> <string name="ringtone_title">Review ringtone</string>

<string name="edit_ringtone">Edit ringtone</string>

<string name="ringtone_done">DONE</string>

<string name="ringtone_file_edited_name">Clip of %1$s</string> <string name="progress_dialog_saving">Saving…</string>

<string name="start_handle">Start handle</string>

<string name="resize_handle">Resize handle</string>

<string name="menu_reset">Reset</string>

<string name="save_success_message">%1$s saved as default ringtone.</string>

<string name="save_failure_message">"Couldn't save %1$s as ringtone."</string>

<string name="play_error">"Couldn't play this media file."</string>

<string name="write_error">"Couldn't write to the file."</string>

<string name="read_error">"Couldn't read the file."</string>

<string name="no_space_error">"There's not enough space on your SD card to save this file."</string>

<string name="bad_extension_error">"Can't edit files of this type."</string>

<string name="no_extension_error">"Can't edit a file that doesn't have a .mp3 or .wav extension."</string>

The ringtone editor itself sounds pretty cool. There's a waveform view, which you can see the files for up there (WaveformView$1.smali and stuff like that), and you would get little resize handles to pick the portion of the song you want. The editor could handle MP3s and wavs, and you could edit songs that weren't downloaded, as evidenced by "Ringtone will be set when downloaded."

There are also some icons, although these guys lack the "holo" designation that most icons have in their filenames, so they might be really old. Google Music on JB and ICS don't use the icon set that these belong to, anyway. Still though, they're interesting.

So what happened, Google? Was this forgotten about? Killed due to licensing issues? Killed due to carrier issues? Coming soon? We'd all love to know.

Thanks Randy!