Image Resampling

Dear Friends, I'm working on a tool where my dear user can upload a large jpg for use with a store. The tool would upload the jpeg, resample (as opposed to resize - image quality is appalling on that!) it to thumbnail, and then be done with the whole thing and go smoke a cigarette. Sounds simple, right? Well, here's my challenge: my hosting company isn't quite up to GD v.2x (they're staying behind in gif-land with GD v.1.6). So, I successfully installed ImageMagick to call from system() or exec(). BUT, my hosting company runs php in safe mode, forbidding any system or exec calls. Now, I KNOW I'm not the first person on the planet to have this challenge. Anyone? Bueller? Share with me. Best, Sondra