Customizing Samsung Message Tones (mmf files)

Samsung handphones can be a bit harder to customize in terms of ringtones, as they use the SMAF format. The files use the extension .mmf. For the Samsung Ultra Edition 8.4 I'm using (and I suspect others as well), the voice call ringtones can be customized using your favourite mp3 files, but the message ringtones only accept mmf files. I'm not sure why this is so, but it started me on my search for an mp3 to mmf converter.

I found a free converter, called SUPER, which you can download from their site here. Their website leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but that won't stop me from having my phone play the most annoying tone whenever I get a text message. Anyway, grab the file, and run it. It will ask you all the standard installation questions including making you agree with some lengthy pieces of text that only 3 people have ever read. Ever!

Once you're done, you run the application and you get this:

Pretty. Pretty confusing, that is. If you know about audio and video conversion, you'll immediately realize that there's a lot of things you can do. SUPER is utilizes a lot of good, free codecs to allow all sorts of conversions. So you're not just limited to converting mp3 to mmf. But that's exactly what I'm going to talk about here, and nothing else. :)

So, the first thing to do is to select the 'mmf (SMAF audio only)' option from the dropdown list in the top left hand corner. You'll see the application change slightly to suit the options available for the option you selected. You're now free to drag any audio files you want to convert and drop them into the application. If you do not wish to drag and drop, you can right click in the application screen and choose the 'Add multimedia file(s)' option. This will allow you to browse for the file to convert.

For instance, open another Windows Explorer window and look for the mp3 you wish to convert. Drag the mp3 over to the SUPER application and drop it there. Your file will be listed in the application. Now, before you proceed, right-click and choose the 'Output File Saving Management' option. This allows you to browse for an output folder. The folder you select here will be the location where the converted mmf file will be deposited. I tried this on default, thinking that it would save the file to Desktop by default, but I didn't see anything at all. Or maybe I'm just stupid. Just set this output location if you have the same problem as me.

Once you're ready, you need to tick the checkbox next to the audio file you dropped into the application, and hit the 'Encode (Active Files)' button. A small, green bar appears to indicate the conversion process. Once it is done, go to the output folder you selected and you should see a mmf file. If your original file is called happy_tune.mp3, the converted file will just have mmf append to the end, making it happy_tune.mp3.MMF. You can rename it if you want but keep the mmf extension. One thing to note, although I mentioned converting from mp3 files, you can actually use any other audio file. Wav files recorded from from your PC are also acceptable.

Now move the mmf file to the Ringtones folder on your phone. I'm not sure how you would do this, but for me it involved using the supplied USB cable and the Samsung PC Studio software.

Finally, to set your shiny new ringtone as a message tone alert, go to your profile settings, and choose 'Special Tone' for message alert. Your mmf should show up in a list as a selectable mmf audio file. Now you can record the symphonic sounds of your neighbours quarelling and use that as your annoying message tone! Ahh... let the cacophony begin.