Actually you HAVE to start up in Metro mode (tile mode) and shut off in Metro. It's quite annoying.
The only difference is that it basically starts up faster by around 20~ seconds more and also uses a bit less resources (CPU/RAM)
It's still Windows. I'm just using Litestep as an alternative to Explorer.
CD Art Display is the little tab thing to the right and the glass like box with the music info is Rainmeter.
If you want any specific ones from mine:
Wallpaper: AndromedaMod
Desktop Information Display: Rainmeter
Music Info: CD Art Display
Taskbar Icons: Token Icons
Windows 7 Theme: Frost Aero
Just got in the spirit of cleaning my desktop today!
I went for a minimalistic, Mac/Windows Hybrid theme using Rainmeter and a Theme Patcher.
http://i.imgur.com/MS75G.jpg