Skin Me!

[Darius Wey]

Pocket PC Thoughts member, <i>djpandora</i>, recently <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=39415">announced</a> the availability of his Plastic VGA skin for Windows Media 10 Mobile. If there ever is a lack of anything in this world, it would be Windows Media 10 Mobile skins. Head over to Microsoft's very own <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/windowsmobile/ppcskins.aspx">skin page</a> and the results are obvious. Even more so - the lack of VGA skins! So <i>djpandora</i> really has put the icing on the cake with this one and with the help of Pocket PC Thoughts, he has decided to offer it for free to the community. To install it, download Plastic from <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/Plastic.zip">here</a>, unzip the contents of the archive into a folder of your choice (e.g. Plastic) and copy that folder to "\Program Files\Windows Media Player". Open up Windows Media 10 Mobile and you should see the skin appear in the Skin Chooser. Simply select it and enjoy!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050508-Plastic.jpg"><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050508-PlasticThumb.jpg" /></a><br /><i><span>Click the thumbnail above for a larger version of the picture.</span></i><br /><br />Now I'm not going to cut the thread short just yet. Since it's the weekend and news is a little dry, I'm going to give any skinners the opportunity to do a bit of self-promotion! If you have a skin creation that you would like to share (whether it be for QVGA or VGA devices), then feel free to add a link to your skin as well as a few descriptive sentences, and hopefully, we can turn this into a resourceful skin thread for future use.

[KTamas]

Here are my 3 latest WA2 themes, click on the images for more info &amp; download:
http://www.hardwareoc.hu/kepek/ktamas/thinkincolors.png (http://www.deviantart.com/view/16774441/)
http://www.hardwareoc.hu/kepek/ktamas/osxsp.jpg (http://www.deviantart.com/view/16261516/)
http://www.hardwareoc.hu/kepek/ktamas/gantp.png (http://www.deviantart.com/view/14794442/)

[beq]

^ All very nice skins :)

Anyways I was just curious if in fact most current Pocket PCs these days already ship with WMP10? I ask since all my current WM2003SE PPCs (save for one) had shipped with WMP9 out of the box...

P.S. Does Plastic work on QVGA?

[Darius Wey]

Anyways I was just curious if in fact most current Pocket PCs these days already ship with WMP10? I ask since all my current WM2003SE PPCs (save for one) had shipped with WMP9 out of the box...

Some have it, some don't. It really is up to the manufacturer to either release their device with WMP10 pre-installed, or a ROM update which will add WMP10 at a later date. Dell's X30 and X50 has it. The i-mate JAM has it. HP's rx3000 series has it. There's talk of HP releasing a ROM update with WMP10 for the hx4700, but that hasn't been released yet so we'll just have to wait.

P.S. Does Plastic work on QVGA?

Nope. :)

[ctmagnus]

Does Plastic work on QVGA?

It doesn't even show up in the skin chooser on my iPaq, so I'm guessing no :( .

I think it's because this skin is made of png files whereas skin files for previous versions of WMP (at least the skins I've seen) are composed of bmps and jpgs.

[Darius Wey]

I think it's because this skin is made of png files whereas skin files for previous versions of WMP (at least the skins I've seen) are composed of bmps and jpgs.

Nah. It's because the SKN file has been strictly hardcoded to work only with VGA devices in the portrait display mode.

[ctmagnus]

Nah. It's because the SKN file has been strictly hardcoded to work only with VGA devices in the portrait display mode.

So how does that work? I tried dividing all location numbers (in the skn file) by two, rounding all odd numbers off, but it still won't open.

[Darius Wey]

So how does that work? I tried dividing all location numbers (in the skn file) by two, rounding all odd numbers off, but it still won't open.

Are you using WMP9 for WM2003 or WM2003SE? If it's the former, it doesn't support different display modes, so you need to scrap the [ Description ] header and its contents. You'll also need to have the graphics resized to fit a QVGA display.

[biglouis]

I've been using WMP10 on my i-mate Jam pretty much since I bought it in December. However, it does have some drawbacks compared to my hard disk player.

One thing that really bugs me is that there appears to be no way to sort songs in the library into alphabetical order. In fact I can't even determine how the song list is sorted.

The 'shuffle' mode also appears to be on some kind of 'fixed' random rather than truly random setting which is not user adjustable. If I start from a particular song then I always get the same songs in shuffle order.

In fact, all in all, pretty much standard MS dross.

Is there anything better out there??????

LouisB

[Darius Wey]

Is there anything better out there??????

Pocket Player (http://www.conduits.com/products/player/) and PocketMusic (http://www.pocketmind.com/pmfp.htm) are two popular replacements. To name a couple of other players, there is the freely available MortPlayer (http://www.sto-helit.de/freeware/pocketpc/mortplayer/en) or GSPlayer. (http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA032810/)

[griph]

P.S. Does Plastic work on QVGA?
I have a MDA Compact (aka iMate Jam, XDA Mini etc) - it has WMP10 and WM2003SE - but due to the small screen size it has been fixed to QVGA resolution - and Plastic does not work (or even appear in Skin chooser). :-( Bummer! Can we have a QVGA version please. Pretty Please???

[UnLoGiC]

I just wish we could have skins like this betaplayer!

[Silencer]

Would be great to have this thing done for MortPlayer.

[djpandora]

Actually I started this skin as a Mort Player skin, but switched to WMP due to the fact that I wanted to use Napster To Go.

I was having problems getting the playlist function to work on the Mort version, but if you want to take a look at it feel free...

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=80493

[/url]

[Silencer]

I made this one working with MortPlayer on QVGA devices, right now I'm trying to get this one running:
http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050508-Plastic.jpg

Pretty hard without having the single sourcefiles.

[alabij]

This is a really nice looking skin. Could someone please mod a version that would work on a QVGA WMP 9 PPC. It would be awesome.

[Silencer]

Good news, there IS a first version of this skin running on MortPlayer. You can find the download here (http://www.ppc-welt.info/community/showpost.php?p=526949&amp;postcount=1805).

I'm going to improve it to use the features provided by MortPlayer.

[djpandora]

Why not just fix the Playlist function in the completed version I created and linked to above?

[Ripper014]

Is it possible to create this for VGA devices running WMP v9.0....???

[Darius Wey]

Is it possible to create this for VGA devices running WMP v9.0....???

The SKN file is headed with [Pocket WMP Skin File v9.0.1] which supports WMP9 for WM2003SE and WMP10, so it may already be compatible. Have you given it a quick go to see if it works?

The only problem you should encounter is the volume percentage not displaying since that feature is unsupported in WMP9.

[Ripper014]

Yes.. I have... I am using a Toshiba e830 with OZ_Vga... and I have not been able to use any of the skins on my unit.. including the default ones. I even tried going into SE_Vga and it made no difference. I am not sure what the problem is.

This skin would also look great if it could be ported over for PocketMusic...

[Darius Wey]

Yes.. I have... I am using a Toshiba e830 with OZ_Vga... and I have not been able to use any of the skins on my unit.. including the default ones. I even tried going into SE_Vga and it made no difference. I am not sure what the problem is.

It could be Oz_VGA. In the past, I've found that Windows Media and its skins do not react kindly to display tweaks of any sort. Have you tried it without any VGA hacks?

[beq]

Actually I started this skin as a Mort Player skin, but switched to WMP due to the fact that I wanted to use Napster To Go.[/url]

BTW I'm also trialling both, but am leaning towards Rhapsody To Go myself (like another PPCT poster had posted in another thread). I'd be interested to hear why you prefer Napster instead, just curious?

I guess it helps that with Napster To Go you can do everything within Windows Media Player 10 on the desktop (once you install the Napster music store plugin for WMP10) instead of having to also rely on a separate app.

On the flip-side, WMP10 on the PPC is quite bare-bone, I wish I can use another music manager/player on the PPC instead. But this drawback exists for both Napster TG and Rhapsody TG.

P.S. djpandora, as has already been requested by others above, I don't suppose you'd have time to make a QVGA version of your Plastic WMP10 skin (to make the rest of us happy too)? :D

[beq]

I think so far:

Napster To Go advantages:

- can be fully integrated within WMP10 application (with Rhapsody you can still use WMP10 to play your downloaded tracks since they come as WMA, but you still need the Rhapsody app for licensing management)

- 128kbps WMA bitrate saves space so you can directly squeeze more songs per given amount of space

- sells whole albums for $9.99 each (cheaper than buying the tracks individually at 99 cents each)


Rhapsody To Go advantages:

- Rhapsody app has been quite a bit more stable and responsive for me than the Napster app (or even the Napster plugin for WMP10). No crashes, and streaming/downloading response from the Rhapsody server has been markedly more responsive than from Napster. I'm not sure why Real maintains completely separate applications and music stores (and file formats) for Rhapsody and the RealPlayer Music Store, but I'm thankful because I didn't much care for the RealPlayer app. On the downside the RealPlayer Music Store is the only one that offer Rolling Stone top tracks for for purchase at a discounted 49 cents each (because I still need to purchase the tracks if I want to burn an audio CD).

- 160kbps WMA download bitrate (streaming is still using 128kbps AAC I think) technically gives higher quality, but eats more space (though you can automatically convert to lower WMA bitrate when transferring to the PPC).

- Rhapsody app even supports iPod (AAC/FairPlay) directly for purchased tracks

- Individual tracks can be purchased cheaper at 89 cents each, but no further discount per album

- I like Rhapsody's music management interface more than Napster (though WMP10's interface is good too)

- I think Rhapsody offers discounted long-term subscription (if you're truly committed that is)...


In fact Rhapsody seems to be to be some bizarre hybrid that works surprisingly well. It's from Real but doesn't use RealPlayer or Real's media format at all (IIRC it originated from their Listen.com acquisition). It streams as AAC files (though different from the iTunes FairPlay AAC), but downloads as WMA DRM files (though it's still not integrated directly into WMP10 like other WM-based music stores). And for purchased tracks it supports FairPlay AAC and various WMA "playsforsure" bitrates.

But heck I'm not even sure if it can directly play songs purchased from RealPlayer Music Store (which I presume is in Real's native media format)? What's weird, when setting file associations, types assigned to Rhapsody show up as just assigned to "RealPlayer" so it's even more confusing...

[Silencer]

Why not just fix the Playlist function in the completed version I created and linked to above?
Because you linked the illuminate-Skin and not the Plastic skin as shown on page 1 of this thread.

[silver99]

I installed the Plastic skin on my X50v (which looks great by the way) but it won't play any video files. Am I missing something here or is this an audio skin only (if that's possible).

I've tried WMV and Photostory 3 files and won't work. As soon as I put back the default skin - they all play great.

- Silver

[djpandora]

This is an Audio only skin. Sorry I failed to clarify.

[victore]

Plastic does not work with WMP9 on my Toshiba e800 running WM2003SE. Nuts.

[moaske]

How do i get it to work on my iMate Jam (QVGA, WMP10 on WM2003SE) ?
It's a gorgeous skinfile... me want :drool:

[djpandora]

If you guys don't have any other skins installed; try unzipping all of the files to your [Mobile]/Program Files/Windows Media Player folder.

Sorry that I'm not so good at support. I'm mainly a graphics guy.

---Josh

[Darius Wey]

How do i get it to work on my iMate Jam (QVGA, WMP10 on WM2003SE) ?

You'll need to get a QVGA version of the skin. Since djpandora hasn't made a QVGA version available, there's not much you can do at this stage, unless you want to volunteer converting it (with his permission of course).

[moaske]

How do i get it to work on my iMate Jam (QVGA, WMP10 on WM2003SE) ?

You'll need to get a QVGA version of the skin. Since djpandora hasn't made a QVGA version available, there's not much you can do at this stage, unless you want to volunteer converting it (with his permission of course).
I'm more than willing to help, though i'm not that much of a whizkid. What do i have to do to help ?

[Darius Wey]

I'm more than willing to help, though i'm not that much of a whizkid. What do i have to do to help ?

(1) Make sure djpandora is okay with it.
(2) Resize the images to a QVGA-compatible version (50% of the original)
(3) Edit the SKN file in a text editor, and for most of the figures, divide them by two. In the [ Description ] section, you'll need to change the contents to conform to a portrait 96DPI 240x320 device.