5 ms·

I recommend VLC - works well on windows, ios, macos, and android and frankly improves over the native players in each without unnecessary frills.

DoingIsLearning 4y ago
I think GP's issue is not lack of technical solutions but that most OSs and BigTech are increasingly user hostile to extract more revenue. I alsobfind it concerning that they are succeding. We now have whole chunks of the world's demographic that don't even know it doesn't have to be that way.
- KyeRussell 4y ago
  Expecting that the typical user wants to use a streaming service, and deprioritising development of tools/components that target other workflows, is not user-hostile. It is clearly the way things are, and the nerds are being dragged kicking and screaming.
  - aikinai 4y ago
    Amen. I'm 100% in the old-school, self-managed local media camp, but I'm well aware that I'm an extreme minority and can't expect mass-market companies to cater to my use case. I'm probably one of the last 1,000 people still using Apple Home Sharing, but honestly I can't even believe it's still working. There must be someone on the inside that uses it at home and keeps fixing it whenever the architecture shifts around it.
    - onlycoffee 4y ago
      > I'm 100% in the old-school, self-managed local media camp, but I'm well aware that I'm an extreme minority and can't expect mass-market companies to cater to my use case. We are now the Eloi and mass-market companies are the Morlocks.
    - brokenmachine 4y ago
      Stay strong brother. I still use and prefer local-everything. There's dozens of us! Dozens!
  - DoingIsLearning 4y ago
    I completely disagree: - Removing the concept of files, folders, and folder paths - Removing the concept of URLs and URL resolution - Saving files directly to a cloud based storage without local offline representation This is not deprioritising, this actively removing features and being hostile. More worrying is how exceedingly fragile all of this is. One company bankrupcy, one government embargo, one anti-government protest in an opressive regime and all of your online self is gone.
philistine 4y ago
VLC’s UI and shortcuts make it a poor macOS citizen. IINA, which is custom-made for Mac, is a much better fit.
- onlycoffee 4y ago
  MacOS dumb UI choices like a global menu make it a a poor UX OS. VLC has it right.
aedocw 4y ago
I love VLC. I've got the follow alias to shuffle what's in my music directory from the command line, very convenient: alias music='find /home/me/music > /tmp/tunes.m3u; vlc -I rc -Z --no-auto-preparse /tmp/tunes.m3u'

DoingIsLearning 4y ago

I think GP's issue is not lack of technical solutions but that most OSs and BigTech are increasingly user hostile to extract more revenue. I alsobfind it concerning that they are succeding. We now have whole chunks of the world's demographic that don't even know it doesn't have to be that way.

KyeRussell 4y ago
Expecting that the typical user wants to use a streaming service, and deprioritising development of tools/components that target other workflows, is not user-hostile. It is clearly the way things are, and the nerds are being dragged kicking and screaming.
- aikinai 4y ago
  Amen. I'm 100% in the old-school, self-managed local media camp, but I'm well aware that I'm an extreme minority and can't expect mass-market companies to cater to my use case. I'm probably one of the last 1,000 people still using Apple Home Sharing, but honestly I can't even believe it's still working. There must be someone on the inside that uses it at home and keeps fixing it whenever the architecture shifts around it.
  - onlycoffee 4y ago
    > I'm 100% in the old-school, self-managed local media camp, but I'm well aware that I'm an extreme minority and can't expect mass-market companies to cater to my use case. We are now the Eloi and mass-market companies are the Morlocks.
  - brokenmachine 4y ago
    Stay strong brother. I still use and prefer local-everything. There's dozens of us! Dozens!
- DoingIsLearning 4y ago
  I completely disagree: - Removing the concept of files, folders, and folder paths - Removing the concept of URLs and URL resolution - Saving files directly to a cloud based storage without local offline representation This is not deprioritising, this actively removing features and being hostile. More worrying is how exceedingly fragile all of this is. One company bankrupcy, one government embargo, one anti-government protest in an opressive regime and all of your online self is gone.

philistine 4y ago

VLC’s UI and shortcuts make it a poor macOS citizen. IINA, which is custom-made for Mac, is a much better fit.

onlycoffee 4y ago
MacOS dumb UI choices like a global menu make it a a poor UX OS. VLC has it right.

aedocw 4y ago

I love VLC. I've got the follow alias to shuffle what's in my music directory from the command line, very convenient: alias music='find /home/me/music > /tmp/tunes.m3u; vlc -I rc -Z --no-auto-preparse /tmp/tunes.m3u'