getmusicbee.com
General => MusicBee Wishlist => Topic started by: MusicBeeFan on May 01, 2010, 08:41:15 PM
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I just discovered this program, and much to my delight, it is a fairly stable, usable, and lightweight alternative to both SongBird (a sluggish Java hack, it has to be said) and MediaMonkey (good, but commercial).
I was just surprised to find an icon/logo that is as stylized as the toolbar icons, and the interface in general. Maybe something to consider for MusicBee 2.x, the app icon and logo could be redesigned?
I booted up inkscape, and started experimenting. I saved my first couple of experiments in .png format and uploaded to mediafire, for those curious.
http://www.mediafire.com/?zqmjmnl4mmn
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I don't know about others but I like your work.
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that is a really great logo and would be pleased to be able to use it if you allow. I could offer people a choice of icons they want to use.
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great concept, just needs a little more polish and ladies and gentlemen i think we have a new logo :D
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Ya great start. I still really like http://grandlx.deviantart.com/art/MusicBee-35343923 though too.
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great icons. looking forward to being integrated ;)
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Could this be a skin option? Would be good to see in integrated in the app itself (like in the window border)
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Could this be a skin option? Would be good to see in integrated in the app itself (like in the window border)
I think this is not a good idea. Application should have had only one icon to be identified everywhere by everyone...
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OK. How about this. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/bee.png
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/bee.png)
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that is a really great logo and would be pleased to be able to use it if you allow. I could offer people a choice of icons they want to use.
I'm really happy that you would consider it. Of course you are free to use it if you like. I uploaded a slightly revised version, in which the full body and head are consistent in colors, and with a better aligned geometry. I made three versions of icon files: head, body, or combined (in which larger sizes use the body, but the 16x16 version consists of the head).
http://www.mediafire.com/file/gwdddxizdli/music_bee_icons.zip
PS: I see other proposals are showing up already! :) Maybe we can have a poll in the near future?
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here is one provided by one of the forum members a while ago that i was also going to incorporate in the website when i had time
http://www.flickr.com/photos/van/4453346116/
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Musicbeefan: I like the general idea of you icons but they theme a little "raw" to me, no offense :)
v4lve: cool!
the current logo is not bad but i think there is too much detail, especially at small size. and i find it a bit too cutesy. i don't think it has to look like an actual bee in proportion but to be easily recognizable and original.
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OK. How about this. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/bee.png (not got the edges quite right yet)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/bee.png)
Here is an icon. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/MusicBee.ico
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Ya great start. I still really like http://grandlx.deviantart.com/art/MusicBee-35343923 though too.
that graphic looks awesome but not really icon-friendly.
here is one provided by one of the forum members a while ago that i was also going to incorporate in the website when i had time
http://www.flickr.com/photos/van/4453346116/
not crazy about this one. not bad design but it feels too much like the current icon.
Here is an icon. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/MusicBee.ico
wow, this is the best so far! i'm using it now - check it out:
(http://i43.tinypic.com/pugd1.png)
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I really like these! I just wish that the logo included something that gives attention to the "music" element of the name.
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OK. How about this. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/bee.png (not got the edges quite right yet)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/bee.png)
Here is an icon. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/MusicBee.ico
how about adding reflection and gradient and little 3D effect? -> have a look at this tutorial http://psd.tutsplus.com/designing-tutorials/create-a-high-gloss-graduation-hat-icon-design/
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Hi. I wondered about this but I don't have any Photoshop voodoo (or patience for that matter ) and I quite like the icon as it is to bee honest. Nice and simple.
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I really like these! I just wish that the logo included something that gives attention to the "music" element of the name.
Yeah. I tried to turn his wings into headphones but it didnt really work (and began to remind be of the s*ngbird icon) so I gave up add a little shake behind him instead.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/bee.png)
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I really like these! I just wish that the logo included something that gives attention to the "music" element of the name.
Yeah. I tried to turn his wings into headphones but it didnt really work (and began to remind be of the s*ngbird icon) so I gave up add a little shake behind him instead.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/bee.png)
I like this one very much. Its clean and simple. It was just a suggestion to make it even better but current icon is great!!
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Yeah. I tried to turn his wings into headphones but it didnt really work (and began to remind be of the s*ngbird icon) so I gave up add a little shake behind him instead.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/bee.png)
I was thinking of adding a face to my plain icon to give it a bit more personality, but this alternative is really, really great. It has a lot of personality. I vote for your icon to replace the current one, if it's ok for the developers, of course.
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Yeah, this is better. The music reference is subtle but definitely noticeable. Great personality I think. I'm really enjoying the developments of the logo design and new skins!
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Here's another one, clearly riffed off of V4vle's. (ripped? :) )
I tried to get the MB into the bee a little. It's a quick and dirty draft. I'm sure others could take the idea and polish it some. Thoughts?
(http://www.positivebias.com/musicbee.jpg)
Oliver
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Here's another one, clearly riffed off of V4vle's. (ripped? :) )
I tried to get the MB into the bee a little. It's a quick and dirty draft. I'm sure others could take the idea and polish it some. Thoughts?
(http://www.positivebias.com/musicbee.jpg)
Oliver
this is my personal favourite so far - the only thing is i wonder how well it scales down to a 16x16 icon, which is where v4lve's one is probably (as a guess) going to be better, but i like the subtle gradient effect and placement of the sound waves of yours
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Yup, I totally agree with that as well. On that thought, I went back and tweaked V4lve's a bit. Obviously he/she would have to clean it up a bit as I'm just messing around with the image with no original files to play with. I think it's awesome - great job, V4lve.
Changes I made...
- gave the bee a stripe.
- made the second wing more prominent.
- added another 'wave' behind him to make the music reference more apparent.
I've kept it super-simple as I think that is the major strength - and I believe it's the best direction.
The font I've used is a free font called 'Creampuff'. FYI.
(http://www.positivebias.com/musicbee2.jpg)
Oliver
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Yup, I totally agree with that as well. On that thought, I went back and tweaked V4lve's a bit. Obviously he/she would have to clean it up a bit as I'm just messing around with the image with no original files to play with. I think it's awesome - great job, V4lve.
Changes I made...
- gave the bee a stripe.
- made the second wing more prominent.
- added another 'wave' behind him to make the music reference more apparent.
I've kept it super-simple as I think that is the major strength - and I believe it's the best direction.
The font I've used is a free font called 'Creampuff'. FYI.
(http://www.positivebias.com/musicbee2.jpg)
Oliver
<3 Love it.
Minor note: I'm not sure if the second wave should be more rounded, would that feel too much like an RSS logo?
And I'm not sure if the font really adds to it. Fonts should be discussed later so we can get closure on the logo itself first.
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I think the name should be located somewhere inside the bee, for the sake of space. I made up this very rough idea using V4lve/Oliver's icon and Oliver's word logo to come up with this...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp80/MalekoKBrown/fdklkqvp.jpg)
Obviously it'll have to be cleaned up if this is a good idea.
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Here's another one, clearly riffed off of V4vle's. (ripped? :) )
I tried to get the MB into the bee a little. It's a quick and dirty draft. I'm sure others could take the idea and polish it some. Thoughts?
(http://www.positivebias.com/musicbee.jpg)
Oliver
this is my personal favourite so far - the only thing is i wonder how well it scales down to a 16x16 icon, which is where v4lve's one is probably (as a guess) going to be better, but i like the subtle gradient effect and placement of the sound waves of yours
Quite like this one, although not sure about including words (too small and cluttered). Made a word-less icon version for you to see how it scales.
http://db.tt/uEQrDk
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I think the name should be located somewhere inside the bee, for the sake of space. I made up this very rough idea using V4lve/Oliver's icon and Oliver's word logo to come up with this...
(http://i399.photobucket.com/albums/pp80/MalekoKBrown/fdklkqvp.jpg)
Obviously it'll have to be cleaned up if this is a good idea.
Nice idea. I played with this too but decided against including words. Too hard to read at small scale and makes the icon fussy. I am not sure many icons include the app name anyway.
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Quick hack at a logo.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/logo.png)
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Quick hack at a logo.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/logo.png)
Perfect :D
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I am in favour of no words. Looks nice and simple.
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or..
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/logo2.png)
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or..
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/logo2.png)
this is awesome, +1 for this
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Yup, I totally agree with that as well. On that thought, I went back and tweaked V4lve's a bit. Obviously he/she would have to clean it up a bit as I'm just messing around with the image with no original files to play with. I think it's awesome - great job, V4lve.
Changes I made...
- gave the bee a stripe.
- made the second wing more prominent.
- added another 'wave' behind him to make the music reference more apparent.
Oliver
Thanks Oliver. I will try and look at these later. He BTW :-)
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here you are
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/logo3.png)
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v4lve: really like it, but i liked the plain white "wing" more than the light blueish ones. that would also reduce the number of colours used. now that you did dark skin and the logo, how about giving the website a new look? ;)
if a new logo / icon get's introduced i think it should be this.
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Building on the topic, though the Musicbee could have different icons for the most popular formats such as mp3, ogg, flac, aac, m4a, mp4, someone how do I change the icons?
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Okay, I've gone at this a bit more. I completely recreated V4lve's logo with vector's and tweaked it a bit more. I removed the second wing altogether as I think it was redundant.
I made his eye looking up a bit and added a mouth. Not sure if this is a good direction or not. I removed the 'wiggles' to avoid confusion with the RSS thing and hopefully made the music reference pretty obvious. I worked on the font some. I tried to keep it soft, like the logo, but still give it a bit of punch. I've included an example of it at 64,32 and 16 pixel sizes.
Let me know what you think.
(http://www.positivebias.com/mb3.jpg)
Oliver
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Building on the topic, though the Musicbee could have different icons for the most popular formats such as mp3, ogg, flac, aac, m4a, mp4, someone how do I change the icons?
Like Foobar2000 does I guess. With the relevant TLA under the icon and perhaps a colour scheme change?
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I think we are coming to agree that V4lve got the concept just right. It seems that we also happen to agree that the original icon needs a facelift (sorry, Steven ;) ). Personally, I like the first modification by Oliverh72 on V4lve's work, specifically the stripe on the bee's body. On the making the 2nd wing more prominent, I'm not sure. The second "ripple" could either stay or go.
On Oliverh72's 2nd mod, with the bee wing turning into a music note: the concept is cool, but it makes it too vertical. Icons should fit nicely in a square format, which V4lve's concept does cleanly.
BTW: I'd say NO fonts. Check your start menu and count the number of icons that include a whole word. Rare, to say the least. Text does not scale well down to 16x16. I know this is a very restrictive size. But at least, at 32x32 it should looks nearly as nice as in 256x256. To anyone who is proposing icons, work at 256x256 at most, and scale down from there to check the results. For example, GrandLX's 3Dsmax work is pretty nifty, but will degrade beyond good taste even at 128x128. The level of detail is awesome, and the concept is pretty well thought out, but doesn't work as an icon.
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BTW: I'd say NO fonts. Check your start menu and count the number of icons that include a whole word. Rare, to say the least. Text does not scale well down to 16x16. I know this is a very restrictive size. But at least, at 32x32 it should looks nearly as nice as in 256x256. To anyone who is proposing icons, work at 256x256 at most, and scale down from there to check the results. For example, GrandLX's 3Dsmax work is pretty nifty, but will degrade beyond good taste even at 128x128. The level of detail is awesome, and the concept is pretty well thought out, but doesn't work as an icon.
I don't think that the logo with text is meant to be used as an icon, but rather as a large-size logo for the website and the about box.
I took the liberty of converting V4lve's (two shakes) logo to .ico (sizes 16x16,32x32,48x48,128x128 and 256x256), without the text.
Mediafire link: http://www.mediafire.com/file/2vtlztzfjdy/musicbee.ico
@ oliverh72: I really liked your font, do you have it in .ttf format? I think it would be really good for the media format icons.
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The font wouldn't be a part of the icon at all. Only a part of the logo as a whole.
As for it being too tall, I agree. I've tweaked it again to get it closer to a square icon shape. It is very, very close to that.
(http://www.positivebias.com/mb4.jpg)
I've included comps at 128,64,32,24,16 pixel sizes.
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@ oliverh72: I really liked your font, do you have it in .ttf format? I think it would be really good for the media format icons.
Hi MBF :)
It's called 'bubbleboy' and I got it from dafont.com. It's free for personal use. If it were to be used as the logo font, Stephen (Steven?) would have to contact the font author to request.
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The font wouldn't be a part of the icon at all. Only a part of the logo as a whole.
As for it being too tall, I agree. I've tweaked it again to get it closer to a square icon shape. It is very, very close to that.
(http://www.positivebias.com/mb4.jpg)
I've included comps at 128,64,32,24,16 pixel sizes.
what about adding this kind of headphones http://www.popgadget.net/images/X-Fi-Headphones-Creative.jpg??
something like this picture:
(http://i40.tinypic.com/30hylv9.jpg)
than icon would be square ;)
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I'm inclined to avoid headphones altogether for a couple reasons: too similar to the songbird logo (especially since the names are so similar - song/music + bird/bee) as well as the fact that trying to get in a headband that actually looks good AND you know what it is without looking hard ... is difficult. If that's what people want, I could make a few comps.
V4lve, what do you think?
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I have forgotten about previous topic replies about headphones. sorry...
than what about whistling bee??
like this one but with oliverh72's bee (I really like adding mouth to bee, it's more human :))
(http://www.covercommander.com/stock-icons/vista-artistic-icons/preview/smile-whistle.png)
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Just to be clear, that's V4lve's design. I'm just tweaking it.
As for whistling... I dunno. I could try something. I think simpler is definitely better, if at all possible. This moves more toward a slightly more busy look. I'll do a bit more work and come back with another couple comps, possibly a different direction.
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Just to be clear, that's V4lve's design. I'm just tweaking it.
As for whistling... I dunno. I could try something. I think simpler is definitely better, if at all possible. This moves more toward a slightly more busy look. I'll do a bit more work and come back with another couple comps, possibly a different direction.
I tried a whistling bee. Didnt look very good :-( Generally I decided that the simple look was enough. Anything else makes it too busy.
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and how about microphone??
like that in right down corner of this image:
(http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb_248/1205541693g8IXZU.jpg)
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whistling bees and friends
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/whistling%20bee2.png)(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/whistling%20bee.png)(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/playbee.png)(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/oggbee.png)(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/mp3bee.png)
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That whistling bee is so cute, nice and clean. Definitely like that very much. I like also filetype icon for ogg.
If this is final version, Steven should do the magic and teach MB to set icons for music files associated with MB in Preferences > System > File types section.
Could you try making icon for PLS and M3U (or other playlist files)??
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That whistling bee is so cute, nice and clean. Definitely like that very much. I like also filetype icon for ogg.
If this is final version, Steven should do the magic and teach MB to set icons for music files associated with MB in Preferences > System > File types section.
Could you try making icon for PLS and M3U (or other playlist files)??
I still think that there should be a "generic media file" icon though. The whistling bee looks great for that. I think that the icon with the "play" symbol is meant for playlist types already. Maybe the triangle could be of a different color, for better contrast? I imagine opening a folder with a ripped CD and not being able to easily distinguish the playlist from the mp3 files when the icons are 16x16.
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i also like the whistling bee icon as well. I think i know how to associate different icons with different file types (including showing a generic one at 16x16 and a labelled one at 32x32+ but i need to check that out as i havent done it before)
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I think I can make icons that show different things at different resolutions. Will investigate.
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its OK about the different icon resolutions as i am already doing the same thing with the existing MB icon, just with the same image at different resolutions. The thing i need to check is associating the different file types with different icons (i'm currently linking all the file types to MusicBee.exe if you have the option to associate filetypes with MB enabled)
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NoteBee and PlayBee
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/notebee2.png)(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/PlayBee4.png)
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I think the bee needs to look more like it's part of a media program. The 'sound waves' don't really look like sound waves unless you were told so. The whistling is a good idea and the music note integrated to the wing was interesting. I actually liked the icons that started off this thread, although they were quite raw. The headphones look cool when not at an angle.
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Wondered about headphones for a while but dismissed it.
Firstly the icon needs to fit in a square and be legible at 16x16 pixels (which is why my bee is round). The only real way to include headphones in a useful (functional) way would be to make them a major feature which dilutes the main concept (significant impact at 16x16).
Secondly the main unique concept to represent here is "Bee" IMHO. Music is a very generic concept and much harder to represent uniquely . (How many apps do music? - thousands. How many are called Bee?).
Thirdly the "Bee" is not listening to music but playing it (for us to listen to), which is why I think a musical note is better. It is much easier to integrate into the icon and has a more pleasing effect.
Ta
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without passing comment on adding headphones or anything else, just want to make the point it doesnt have to be the case the 16x16 image is the same as the 32+ ones
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OK. I have reduced it to two icons. One for the app and one for the songs. And added some bling...
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/BeeandPlay.png)
Here are the Icons.
http://db.tt/u7tDQI
http://db.tt/UyXSb9
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I'm following the topic since the very beginning and I just love these two last icons! Good work.
It would be nice to have different icon for playlist files (could be the first icon) and for music files itself (second icon as planned).
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Added a playlist icon.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/Bee%2BSong%2BList.png)
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Added a playlist icon.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/Bee%2BSong%2BList.png)
good job. For me - first icon is MB icon, second is for filetypes and third for playlists...
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Added a playlist icon.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/133297/Bee%2BSong%2BList.png)
I think those three icons just about cover all that's necessary: The app icon, the registered music file formats, and playlist formats. I converted your image to separate icons, and uploaded them to mediafire.
link: http://www.mediafire.com/file/tnjzdmkzziq/musicbee_icons.zip
Will Steven include these in the next beta?
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yes i will indeed! for now just the first one with musicbee.exe and at a later date using all of them for file associations
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yes i will indeed! for now just the first one with musicbee.exe and at a later date using all of them for file associations
Cool. You going to replace the one in the window border too?
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yes it will show in the windows taskbar, when you alt-tab, in the caption header of the main form and with any file associations if you have that enabled in the preferences
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looking forward to new beta with icon integrated :)
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@Moderators:
I suggest to move this topic to the Customisations board, so that users could find it easier.
If you don't want to create a separate Icons section, perhaps put it to the Skins until more icon packs for MB are created.
Skins and Icons are stored in the same folder in MB.