Minitube
Version: 2.8 Web: http://flavio.tordini.org/minitube
Long before Google presented its own mobile app for YouTube (and we got used to it on Android-powered handhelds), there existed a third-party attempt to change the way we watch YouTube videos on a desktop. Flavio Tordini was the author of Minitube, a desktop application that was designed to save you from common web distraction by offering a standalone application. Minitube is not a browser window that is wrapped to look like a desktop app: it is a fully fledged desktop app. Due to Google’s requirements, Minitube needs a browser API key in order to use YouTube features. If you build Minitube from source, start with: $ qmake-qt5 “DEFINES += APP_GOOGLE_API_ KEY=YourAPIKeyHere”, Alternatively, if you install Minitube from your package manager, you can export the key as a variable: $ export GOOGLE_API_ KEY=”YourAPIKeyHere”.
Grab the key at https://console. developers.google.com. (You’ll need a Google Account for that.)
Using Minitube as an everyday tool for finding and watching videos is a delight. The app is minimalistic yet feature-rich. The home screen has three main sections for searching videos; watching trending or recommended videos; and viewing your subscriptions. It is possible to tell Minitube your preferred video quality, toggle safe mode and set the Autoplay feature on and off. Once you find something to watch, Minitube goes to a player mode, with the currently playing video in the main part and similar videos in the vertical bar on the left. Right-click over the video to access a menu with some extras. This lets you open the current video in a web browser, copy the link address to the clipboard and find similar videos. We had a great time with Minitube, as it set us free from ads and various undesired bells and whistles of the YouTube web page. It looks like a video player with a smart playlist where you can find anything, and it will be fetched in a second or two.
“It set us free from ads and undesired bells and whistles of YouTube”