Now that I got a Spotify theme, my Windows 7 laptop feels complete!

[YGSilverstream 37]

Something about myself I haven't talked about on this forum yet (I think?) is how much I LOVE the aesthetic of 2000s / Early 2010s tech and web stuff. And one thing i've been trying to do for over 2 years now is get a good, accurate, and most importantly usable Windows 7 theme going for my computer, which for the past year I switched over to my laptop since it's better to do it with a 200$ laptop and not the irreplaceable thousand-dollar gaming PC. 

Well, after I discovered this modded version of Windows 10 to make it as 7 accurate as possible, i've been near close to getting that! I've already known skins for stuff like Firefox (got it looking like old Chrome here) and Discord but for a while i've been hindered by Spotify. Love the convinence of being able to listen to like, all the music ever whenever I want instead of downloading albums from dubious websites, but the design was WAY too modern! I kinda had to just deal with that for a while. But I discovered this relatively new thing called WMPotify and now it fits in a lot better! There's zero program now that feels out of place now! I love it.

[Dawnshine Wonder 187]

Window Blinds on Steam can achieve this effect if I'm not mistaken, make Windows 11/10 look like Windows 7.

As for media players, I am content with using Media Monkey 5 with my music as I like having physical copies of songs I like, with AccurateRip and verify, you can make sure CD rips are bit perfect each time. In my opinion, this media player beats most of the other ones out there, including Winamp.

[Artshine Aura 24]

oh my god thats awesome! i didnt know you could skin spotify at all, or windows 10 for that matter, beyond stuff like the taskbar. when i switch over to linux i plan to immediately put a windows 7 skin over whatever OS i choose x3

[Nightfall Gloam 18,266]

I would not be able to tell that was actually Windows 10 based on that screenshot! Good job. very much miss that whole era of technology and the internet. Tech-wise things felt much friendlier and more fun back then. Actually been thinking of getting an Aero style theme for my KDE install.

[YGSilverstream 37]

On 2025-02-05 at 6:38 PM, Dawnshine Wonder said:

Window Blinds on Steam can achieve this effect if I'm not mistaken, make Windows 11/10 look like Windows 7.

As for media players, I am content with using Media Monkey 5 with my music as I like having physical copies of songs I like, with AccurateRip and verify, you can make sure CD rips are bit perfect each time. In my opinion, this media player beats most of the other ones out there, including Winamp.

I used to use WindowBlinds but not only does it cost money (which I don't have a lot of atm) the Windows 7 theme on it is broken. The "aero glass" effect on the windows is completely broken. I'm unsure what my modded W10 install uses but it's a lot more accurate. Also in terms of media players, I usually use VLC for movies and WACUP for locally installed music.

On 2025-02-05 at 6:46 PM, Artshine Aura said:

oh my god thats awesome! i didnt know you could skin spotify at all, or windows 10 for that matter, beyond stuff like the taskbar. when i switch over to linux i plan to immediately put a windows 7 skin over whatever OS i choose x3

It's pretty easy to get custom skins for Windows if you know what you're doing and only use trustworthy programs. Spotify you can only skin if you install the Spicetify mod onto it which allows for custom themes and plugins, kinda like what Vencord is to Discord. I'd love to use Linux but i'm way too used to Windows to make a switch, plus one of my favorite games is completely broken on it.

 

On 2025-02-06 at 6:33 AM, Nightfall Gloam said:

I would not be able to tell that was actually Windows 10 based on that screenshot! Good job. very much miss that whole era of technology and the internet. Tech-wise things felt much friendlier and more fun back then. Actually been thinking of getting an Aero style theme for my KDE install.

Yeah, I miss it a lot. The issue with tech/internet today is big corporations stopped their facade and made everything super corporate. Every website / program now has to be super flat and minimalist with zero personality and it's boring, really doesn't help that they also fill everything with bloat it doesn't need and feel the need to force every new tech "advancement" into them even if it really doesn't need it like how literally everything has an AI chatbot on it.

I'm hoping some time in the near future the failures of "Web3" will push us back in the right direction. Eventually the style of minimalism is gonna die out, companies are gonna realize they aren't gonna keep making a profit with their current business models of shoving every new trend onto their stuff, they'll notice the increasingly rapidly approaching death of social media after the fiascos with Twitter and Meta, and now that the generation who grew up in the era of early/mid Web2 are full grown adults constantly talking how bad the Internets gotten it just seems we're nearing a perfect time for things to get better.

Either that or like usual they'll never learn and it's gonna be stuck like this forever. At least if that happens we'll always have dedicated groups of people keeping the spirit of old tech alive.