For those of you who are in love with Youtube and have spent countless hours everyday watching the videos, you can now watch it directly from your desktop without having to open the browser. Minitube is the only software you need and it works for Windows, Mac and Linux. One good thing about the Linux version is that it is free while the other two come with a price.
Installation
The download version for Linux is a generic package that works only in 32 bit machine. I downloaded it and open it, but it doesn’t work due to missing dependency. Luckily, there are several distro-specified packages created by the community that you can use. In Ubuntu,
Usage
Once installed, you can launch Minitube from the Application Menu. It is very easy to use. You just have to type the keyword to search for the video you want to watch.
When you click the “Watch” button, it will immediately fetch results from Youtube and start playing the first search result. The search result is shown in the left pane and you can click on any of the video to start playing it.
Once each video has finished, it will automatically jump to the next video in the list and start playing it. If you have noticed, at the bottom right corner is a string of number like 360p, 720p or 1080p. This is the resolution of the video. You can click on it to switch the resolution of the current video (you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + D to switch the resolution as well).
Common commands like Stop, Pause and skip are also available. There is even an option to “Stop Playing After This Video” so it won’t continue to play endlessly. One feature that I like is the ability to download video directly from Minitube. While viewing the video that you like, you can click the “Download” icon (or press Ctrl + S) to download the video. Similarly, you can copy the video stream URL or even open the video in YouTube.
Conclusion
Minitube is really good for a sitback and enjoy experience, but it doesn’t log you into your Youtube account, so you won’t be able to access your saved playlist, nor save your currently playing playlist. In addition, it only works for Youtube video, so if your favorite videos are at different video hosting site, you are out of luck. If you just want to search and watch videos, then this is for you.
Minitube
Damien Oh started writing tech articles since 2007 and has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry. He is proficient in Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS, and worked as a part time WordPress Developer. He is currently the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Make Tech Easier.
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