Whether you like it or not, to play any YouTube Videos you first have to open a web browser. There appears no easy way. where you can play them directly on to your Windows desktop, without opening your web browser. Surprisingly, I came across an application – YTube Player that did the job for me in a snap.
What is YTube Player
Well, YTube Player is a free desktop YouTube player that is capable of playing video files directly from YouTube website, without requiring you to download them. The application just requires you to enter your favorite artist, movie or a song name in a search field that its interface accommodates. When searched, the program generates a playlist (related to your search) which you can easily manage via program’s built in tools.
YTube Player relies on Internet Explorer’s Flash plugin and some users do not prefer to install the plug-in on their desktop, so make sure you are not one of those.
How to use YTube Player
Step 1 – Simple, download the program and install it on to your desktop.
Step 2 – Once done, you will notice a window on your computer screen. It will prompt you with the following message, ‘In order to share playlist with your friends you need to have a nickname’.
Simply follow the wizard instructions to create one. Now you will be able to share your favorite playlists with other YTubePlayer users.
Step 3 – Next, you will be presented with a simple and clutter-free interface. It will display the following,
- A control bar at the top (just below the program version info)
- Player window on the left with the ‘Back’, ‘Play’, ‘Next’, ‘Stop’ and ‘Shuffle’ buttons
- A search field at the right-top, just below the toolbar
- ‘Playlists’ and ‘Video Clips’ listings on the right.
Step 4 – After acquiring knowledge from the above mentioned steps, you can start searching for videos right away. The search action will open a new window that will display search results with the title, description, play time, views and thumbnail of each video. By default, videos are sorted by relevance
Step 5 – To play your favorite video simply click on the title of the video.
The action will send the video directly to the player were it can be played automatically. Also, it will enable you to add any extra videos to the playlist.
The main highlight of the application is that it offers
- A full-screen playback mode
- A toolbar mode.
The latter option displays only the toolbar and therefore no video player or interface. This proves handy especially when you just want to listen to the music in the background, without watching a video. The option also minimizes the interface to a small floating toolbar with playback controls.
YTube Player features in a nutshell:
- The player comes without options to download YouTube videos
- Toolbar mode to listen to your playlists in the background with no video player or interface
- Built-in search facilities (Ctrl-F) to search directly on YouTube
- Allows you to create and manage your playlists in a click
- Includes built-in “share” facilities which allows you to share your playlists by sending them to other Ytube Players
YTube Player is compatible with Windows 7 and can be downloaded here.
PsykoTube, a cool website that offers you an alternative way to browse YouTube videos, may also interest you.
