A Firefox media browser extension.
The idea of using the Mozilla interface engine to browse files is hardly a new one but, has never really taken off, mostly due to the major advantages presented by purpose-built file browsers like Nautilus and Windows Explorer. However, I recently came across Gnome-Mplayer which, despite it’s somewhat short supply of features, is excellent if all you want is something that loads instantly and will play anything you give it.
Gnome-Mplayer also has a Firefox media playing plug-in called Gecko-Media Player, which, unlike most browser based media plug-ins is not shockingly bad. In fact, it fits in well with Firefox, adding only an extra bar at the bottom of the tab that auto-hides, as well as supporting most files.
I then, later, the directory URL of a show I’m watching to the address bar and made a bookmark to it that now sits next to my Netvibes and Gmail bookmarks. Now I don’t forget to keep watching a show even if I go off it for a while (I sometimes miss out on shows that are otherwise good if they go wobbly in the middle or if life suddenly becomes busy.) and, due to Firefox history, when I come back to something, I don’t have to faff around working out what episode I was on.
This then lead me to think of how this could be taken further, into a more Boxee like solution where, instead of just a directory listing, I can have my video podcasts and a more full featured media browser built into a tab in my browser.
In the same way things like Boxee have built made a media browser designed for the HTPC, a media browser for the desktop using something like Firefox to let you watch a show of what you’re currently watching, show you what your friends and other contacts are watching.
