TUTORIAL: ALTER MOBILE MUSIC THEME/SKIN (BITPIM, LG DARE, TELUS)

Hey guys. If you are like me, you hate how the Telus Music Player looks. Well I have good news. I found a way to change the themes. Here is an example of the music player (both older and newer versions)





First go to Telus Mobile Music > Shop to make sure you have the latest version!

Step 1:
Connect your LG Dare to BitPim (if you don't know how to do that, search up 'Bitpim' on this forum)

Step 2:
Back up everything! I am not responsible for any data loss or bricked phones!

Step 3:
In BitPim, go to View> View Filesystem and make sure it is checked.

Step 4:
Click 'Filesystem' in the navigation bar on the left, and then navigate to: / > Brew > ams > 15
'15' should be your Telus Mobile Music. If you aren't sure, save the 15.jad file and the open it with a text editor. It should say somewhere near the top.

Step 5:
Right click on the directory '15' and select 'Back Up Directory'
Save the file in a different location than your other backup (which you should've done if you followed Step 2)

Step 6:
You will need a file extractor that can read JAR files. I'm using PowerArchiver 2007, I believe you can get a trial there. http://www.powerarchiver.com/ (note: The newest version is now 2009)

Step 7:
Open 15.zip (the file you created in Step 5) with your program. Then select '15.jar' and drag it out to the Desktop.

Step 8:
Rename 15.jar to 15.zip (You will need to disable 'Hide extensions for known file types' in Windows XP and Vista) Make sure that you are renaming it 15.zip, and NOT 15.zip.jar (as Windows will frequently try to do this)

Step 9:
Extract the zip file. You will see a bunch of .class and .png files. The PNG files are what we want.
Take the PNG files that you want (the ones I used in my picture are 'player_button_bg.png' and 'title_bg.png') and open them in an Image Editor (e.g. Photoshop)

Step 10:
Change the image as you wish. I simply went to Adjustments> Hue/Saturation in Photoshop and changed it to a greenish hue. Then save the file, overwriting the previous files.

Step 11:
Recompress all the files back into a zip file. (Open up the folder created by the first extraction, probably "Compress to 15.zip" (if you are using PowerArchiver. Option name may vary)

Step 12:
Open up the zip file and click on the files you edited to make sure that they are the ones you want. Also check that you have compressed all the files in the folder, but NOT THE FOLDER ITSELF! (All the files should appear when you click on the zip file, not just a folder named '15')

Step 13:
Rename '15.zip' back to '15.jar' (again, making sure it's 15.jar, not 15.jar.zip)

Step 14:
Drag 15.jar into BitPim, replacing the original 15.jar

Step 15:
Reboot your phone

That's all there is to it. Again, I'm not responsible for any damage that you cause messing around with this.
If someone with graphical talent can create a skin that isn't horrendous to look at, please post the file so we can all be spared Telus' green-violet theme.

Enjoy!
-Enders

Hmm, I opened up Mobile Music and it didn't update for me. I didn't see an option to check for updates either.

hahah perfect thanks for the follow up and confirming pics
now ppl can customize their musis player
THANKS

Update: I am working on a black and blue theme to replace the standard Telus theme.
There are still some small bugs and graphics to fix, but I think for the most part it works good. I've included it as an attachment, but use at your own risk!

(To install theme, download telus_mm_black.zip and then rename it '15.jar'
Connect your phone with BitPim and then go to Filesystem>/>brew>ams>15 and then replace 15.jar with my file. Then right click on the filesystem viewer and select 'Reboot Phone')

Here are some pics:

Until someone pipes - I searched the net (java.lang.NullPointerException, telus, music and dare) and you aren't alone.  I got a lot of hits but this one sounded closer to your problem...

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1019840&page=2
okay so i finally decided to sit down with my phone and figure out what was going on with it and i'm sorta glad to say that after taking all 150 songs off my SDcard then putting them back on 4 at a time....i dunno where i get my patience from.....i found out that it had "issues" with 2 songs grrrr! but ya it still does the restarting thing....i guess it's a quirk that has to be lived with.

hmm i dont think i did that i will give that a shot and update here.
btw, is it possible to replace the TELUS music player with VERIZON music player (i like the verizon one better) and also get the Video Player from Verizon over to Telus phones?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7_wiQvVidc&feature=related (watch from 2.33 till 4.28)

I might sound REALLY newbie right now, but how do we back up files?
Sorry, i just got my computer about a month ago.. and i'm new to all this technology stuff

Ok Guys
i f*cked ... I replaced my 15.jar ... without any backup.
I now get a java.lang.NullPointerException when a try opening my music player

Could anyone shoot my his default 15.jar please...

thks