Share and watch Videos : Episode one (NewPipe, a YouTube Front-end Software)

Repository

https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe

Preface

Entertainment is a significant aspect of our lives, the entertainment industries have evolved over the years, from creating music videos, comedy videos, movies, and DIY tutorials.

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Introduction

Hi, am @princekelly. I welcome you to my new series, share and watch videos.
YouTube is the number one video sharing platform in our society today; it has also helped in the evolution of the entertainment industry. With YouTube, people can upload their videos for public view.
This series will be divided into two parts; the first episode, I will be talking about the NewPipe front-end for YouTube, reasons for having other front-ends, features of this front end in comparison to YouTube. In the second episode, I will be talking about an alternative to YouTube, its features, pros and cons over YouTube.

Why an open source front-end for YouTube

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Open source software has its advantages over proprietary software (closed source). But, also has its disadvantages, I will briefly talk about the advantages and disadvantages of using an open source software. The use of open source software solely lies on the user’s knowledge of the risks involved.

Flexibility

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I can easily manipulate and reproduce the codes of an open source software, to suit my exact needs. Which is impossible when dealing with proprietary software, I would have to go through some tedious and lengthy process to achieve this. And sometimes such requests are rejected by the exclusive software owner. To manipulate an open source software, I get the codes online and edit to my taste. Flexibility gives me the opportunity to contribute to open source projects.

Security

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Most open source software development happens in an uncontrolled environment, and some developers might add Trojan codes in their software. This leaves me as a user, prone to hacking. I reduce the security breach by sticking to reputable open source software. The VLC and Gom media players are examples of open source software developed by reputable organizations. This is however not full proof but helps reduce security breach to the significant minimum.

Cost

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This is, however, my biggest reason for using open source software. I use Gimp as an alternative to the Adobe Photoshop software. Gimp is a free editing tool; it gives me access to every tool on Adobe Photoshop for free. Without the need to cough out $700 for the full Adobe Photoshop app. The funds go into other essential things in my life, like taking good care of my family.
All being said, the use of open source to proprietary apps, depends on each users choice.

NewPipe

NewPipe is a YouTube front-end on Android; I use it as a support for my YouTube app. It is not a replacement for YouTube, but it gives me more control over YouTube videos. This is an app I have been using for a while, to watch and download videos. I contributed to a minor developmental part of the app; check my contribution to the projects FAQs here. This shows blogging isn’t the only way I contribute to open source projects.

Features of NewPipe

I will be writing on some unique features I use on NewPipe

Theme

This feature is common on both the YouTube app and NewPipe, but they are different. NewPipe offers three unique themes, Light, Dark, and Black; while on YouTube, I have the light and dark theme. I use the black theme on NewPipe, helps make the text and icon more visible.

Content on main page

There are three basic contents on the NewPipe homepage, Trending, Subscription, and bookmarks. I added history and what’s new to my NewPipe main page. Unfortunately, I couldn’t delete any of the first contents on the main page. I can always add more or reset to the default settings easily.

Import subscription

I imported my YouTube subscription through this feature; it is straightforward and simple to do. Just click on subscription, select import and follow the instruction on the screen. I use this to keep in touch with my previous subscription on YouTube.

Video popup

This is the ability to play videos over other apps. I play videos in this mode when I need to be in any app at the same. This is most useful when am watching a tutorial video, and I can follow instructions in real time. To enable this feature, you need to permit NewPipe to display over other apps. Long press on a video you want to watch in a popup, and select enqueue on popup. To stop popup, press and hold the popup video, dray down to the X sign.

Download

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Now to the best part, my favorite feature on NewPipe. On YouTube, my downloads are only accessible through the app. On NewPipe, I get full access to my downloaded videos. I can easily share my downloaded videos with friends and copy to other devices. I think videos downloaded via the YouTube app, are being erased after some time. They expire and get removed from my YouTube app; this is annoying and makes me download the video over again. Data doesn’t come cheap in my country Nigeria. So I use NewPipe to download videos from YouTube, to avoid losing essential video files.

Conclusion

As I stated earlier, NewPipe is not a replacement for the YouTube app; they tend to complement each other. I upload videos to my channel via the YouTube app, download videos via NewPipe. Having both apps on my device has helped me, in keeping in touch with important videos on YouTube. This saves my data and helps me share videos easily with friends without no extra cost of data. I think I have been able to share my thoughts on the use NewPipe, and YouTube
From the features above, you can see my favorite. I love using open source software, mainly because of its free and flexible. Am not new to open source software, I know the risks involved and how to handle such risks.
Finally, the download feature is the major reason I use NewPipe, to support the official YouTube app on my device.

Thank you for reading the episode one of share and watch videos, stay tuned for the next episode in this series. You can add your thoughts and concerns about NewPipe, in the comment section below.

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Resources

• I created the contents of this article from my knowledge of the project.
• Images were taken on my Infinix X557, mobile device.
• Other images were adequately referenced.

Series Backlinks

This is the first episode in this series.