I often view movies on YouTube. I take advantage of it to be taught issues that require extra speedy instruction than one would discover within the written phrase (comparable to supplemental voice classes…however do not inform my vocal teacher) and to be entertained. However I’ve all the time discovered the net browser interface with YouTube to be missing. I do know that is a private choice however there’s one thing about it that bothers me.
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That is why, once I must view a YouTube video on my desktop, I flip to a bit device known as Minitube. Primarily, Minitube is all about making YouTube feel and look a bit extra like a standard tv expertise. As a substitute of viewing movies in your browser, you view them in their very own app that features some fairly cool options, comparable to:
- Simple channel subscription.
- Constructed-in share device.
- Associated movies search.
- Floating, compact, and full-screen modes.
- Discover video components (if accessible throughout the video).
- Simple decision switching.
I’ve all the time been a fan of not throwing each single factor I take advantage of into an online browser. Any time I can decide to make use of an app over a browser tab, I’ll. Typically meaning turning a web site into an online app. Different instances it is discovering third-party apps to suit the invoice. Minitube does an awesome job of serving to me work together with YouTube with out including yet one more tab.
Minitube is free for Linux however for MacOS and Home windows, there’s an related value (roughly $11). Is it price the price? You possibly can obtain, set up, and check out it out earlier than you determine to pay. You should use Minitube on each MacOS and Home windows at no cost as effectively, however the free variations do not embrace perpetually updates and e mail assist.
Putting in Minitube on Linux
What you may want: To put in Minitube on Linux, you may want a Ubuntu/Debian distribution (because the developer solely ships a .deb installer) and a consumer with sudo privileges.
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Open a terminal window and alter into your Downloads listing with the command cd ~/Downloads. Set up Minitube with:
sudo dpkg -i minitube.deb
As soon as the command completes, you are prepared to make use of Minitube.
Utilizing Minitube
One factor to remember is that should you’ve already subscribed to a lot of YouTube channels together with your default net browser, they will not switch to Minitube. In reality, there isn’t any YouTube sign-in for this app (which is, if I am being trustworthy, fairly refreshing).
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When the app first opens, you may see the Search tab. Kind a search string into the textual content space and hit Enter in your keyboard and the outcomes will seem. You possibly can scroll via the following navigation to discover a video. As soon as you have discovered the video you are in search of, choose it, and click on the Play button.
In the event you discover a channel you need to subscribe to, merely play a video from the channel, click on the three-dot menu button close to the higher proper nook of the video, and click on Subscribe to X (The place X is the channel identify).
My solely gripe with Minitube
I’ve solely two issues with Minitube. The primary is Linux-specific in that it may be (at instances) a bit gradual to load movies. As soon as movies begin taking part in, they’re fantastic — so simply have a little bit of endurance. The opposite drawback I’ve pertains to all three platforms: The app does not help you get again to the primary web page as soon as you have began watching a video. That is fantastic as a result of you possibly can nonetheless seek for new movies from the paying display screen. Nevertheless, to get again to your subscriptions, it’s important to shut the app and re-open it. It will be good if there was a Subscription entry within the View menu however that is not the case.
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Even with these two gripes, Minitube is a fantastic manner of interacting with YouTube movies whenever you’d fairly not should open yet one more tab or go away the tab you might be at present working with. It isn’t excellent however it’s served me effectively through the years.