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This isn’t so much a review of an iDevice case as it is a review of a process. There are too many variables here to narrow down a specific product or price, and the most important variable is controlled by you.

MusicSkins—by the company’s own words—offers “Music, Style, Protection.” Music, through the numerous band and artist designs available at their site: The Beatles, Queen, KISS, Paramore, T-Pain, Serani, Miles Davis…and that’s just what’s currently on their home page (not to mention all the models, fashion/art, and even President Obama options). The number of artists is ridiculous, broken down by genre to help you navigate through them all.

Style, through the individual band designs. Some are pulled directly from the band logos, others are more interpretive. Depending upon your interest, you could find yourself with quite a few images from which to choose.

Protection, through the adhesive 3M vinyl skin itself that’s fairly easy to apply and can be removed without leaving residue. You can even try reusing them, but your luck with that will likely vary.

And yet, we’re not here to talk about any of that, because MusicSkins also gives you the ability to customize your own skin. As long as you have a decent photo (and have the rights to it…don’t think you can send in a team logo and have them make that for you), you can get your very own custom skin. Photos of kids, a favorite vacation spot, or—even better—some custom artwork. It’s all up to you, and it’s surprisingly easy to do.

The first step, of course, is to visit the MusicSkins customizer and select your device. For this test, I used my wife’s 3GS.

Step two involves selecting and uploading your image. Now, consider that printing your image to the vinyl case is going to degrade its quality a bit. That’s not the fault of MusicSkin, it’s just science. So, you’ll want to pick a high quality image to start, and don’t compress the hell out of it—their server had no trouble handling my iPhone image at its native resolution. You’ll want to make sure the image is large enough for the intended device. If not, you can fill in the extra space with a background color of your choice.

Once you’ve selected and uploaded your image, there’s still some customization to be done. You can use your web browser to size, position and rotate the image, using their handy skin outline to get exactly the placement you want. You can even skew the height and width and adjust the transparency (getting a cool effect if you selected a background color).

Finally, you can add text if you have something to say. Take a look at the preview, then make your purchase. Done. A few days later you’ve got your new adhesive skin ready for application. Lining it up can be tricky, but it’s not too bad (my wife had success by starting with the 3GS camera opening and aligning it from there). Smooth out the air bubbles (MusicSkins has tips on their website), and there you go.

And actually, considering that the photo we used was taken with an iPhone, I was quite impressed by the quality of the reproduction. The source image was a bit blurry and dark; the blurriness remains on the skin, but the image was brightened up nicely without overexposing the highlights. Credit to MusicSkins for that.

The best part? All of this is surprisingly inexpensive; $15.00 plus shipping for my iPhone skin. The price for other phones, MP3 players, portable game devices, laptops, etc., will vary. The MusicSkins website could use some help here, as I could find nothing to show the prices until checkout. Seems to me that should be covered straight off.

Also, keep in mind that this is just a skin. It won’t protect your device from damage caused by drops or water or any other heavy-duty catastrophe. Additionally, once you’ve got this skin on, you won’t be able to use some tight-fitting cases without first removing it (docking the iPhone is no trouble, though, I should point out). You’re only getting protection from scratches and scuffs, and the corners and top/bottom are left uncovered.

But that’s how it is with skins. If you’re not happy with prefabricated case designs, and if you’re tired of offering free promotion for millionaire musicians and models, custom may just be the way to go. Good gift idea, too, really. MusicSkins makes all of this quite easy, and they deliver a solid product. Check them out.