VLC on the iPhone and iPod Touch? Yep

Filed under: Audio, Utilities, Video, iPhone

VLC on the iPhone and iPod Touch? Yep

by Drew Olanoff Jun 5th 2008

So this uber smart dude Zodttd, has done something pretty sweet.

He has successfully ported the popular VLC media player over to the iPhone. Yes, the iPhone.

Big deal you say? Well check out what you'll now be able to do on your little piece of Apple mobile goodness: Drag, drop and play MPEG/MPG, AVI and MP3 media formats.

Woohooo!

Soon it will play FLAC and OGG and he's checking out how to build support for VCD, DivX, WMA, and WMV.

You will have to break free from the jail on your iPhone to see this baby working, and it's currently in beta.

One question though, Why aren't these formats already supported by Apple? Aren't we all tired of the format wars at this point? If you pay $400 or more for a device, shouldn't you get a say in what plays on it and what doesn't?

What do you think? Comment us up.

[via Gizmodo]

Tags: apple, iphone, media, vlc

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Riddar said 3:05PM on 6-05-2008

"Why aren't these formats already supported by Apple?"

Apple has never been exactly open and willing to tolerate competition, this is just one new avenue. Why this has never bothered much of their users is something that perplexes me, but I know it is a major reason I avoid their operating system and other products.

iofthestorm said 2:30AM on 6-06-2008

Indeed, that's one reason I avoid Apple products like the plague as well. And the other reason is the Apple fanboys/Mac vs PC commercials that lack any basis in fact.

James said 10:07AM on 6-06-2008

I avoid Apple products as well -- the OS looks neat, it's great that it's now based on an open-source core, etc., but the price premium and the walled-garden mentality still put me off. I did think the "Allow or Deny" commercial was pretty damn funny, though.

Oh, and as for why it doesn't piss off their customers more? The aforementioned "walled garden mentality" means that people willing to buy Apple products are probably content to buy *only* Apple products -- Apple makes it easier to buy a movie or TV show off iTunes (after which they can painlessly watch it on their iPhone) than to torrent it in e.g. DivX or MP4 or whatever, so that's what they do. They know their audience well.

CreepersCreek said 3:32PM on 6-05-2008

I hope he can get streaming to work.

Snupher said 3:36PM on 6-05-2008

That is kind of an issue with Apple all together. They have done well at, finally, letting go of what DRM was. But when you buy Apple products you are buying just that, Apple. There is no way to truely get what you need, if it isn't made by Apple, without voiding your warrenty. I don't like this method, but enough people apparently disagree with me and feel as though it is no big deal.

conor said 4:04PM on 6-05-2008

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!

Spanky said 4:48PM on 6-05-2008

I donated to his cause. That was my hard earned $25 and I support this effort.

Drew Olanoff said 5:07PM on 6-05-2008

Spanky, ^5 for you!

Eli Gundry said 4:59PM on 6-05-2008

I think a purchase of an iPod Touch will be made within the next week =)

Drew Olanoff said 5:06PM on 6-05-2008

I certainly love mine!!

Eli Gundry said 5:10PM on 6-05-2008

Is it jailbroken?

Drew Olanoff said 5:12PM on 6-05-2008

Like the Shawshank Redemption.

Eli Gundry said 5:16PM on 6-05-2008

Gonna un-jailbreak it when the app store comes out?

Drew Olanoff said 5:18PM on 6-05-2008

Depends on how much the apps cost.

Eli Gundry said 5:21PM on 6-05-2008

True enough. I honestly wonder how many developers will be willing to put their apps on the store. I imagine most of the apps are open source, and I can't see many open source diehards giving all the power to Apple.

h0mi said 5:20PM on 6-05-2008

Hopefully VLC will become part of the 'approved applications' list (won't hold my breath) so it can come to unjailbroken units.

John said 7:00PM on 6-05-2008

Apple sells mp3s on iTunes, so why would they have a strong interest in supporting so much more than that? I'm glad third party developers are working to help us share our media on our phones. Here is something in that same vein: http://www.zintin.com

JL! said 10:30PM on 6-05-2008

It would be polite to include a link to my photo (Like, ) if you're going to use it. Although I do appreciate the "JL!"

Also, you'll note that the photo is under the Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license, and I see some ads on this site. Can we talk about this?

JL! said 10:31PM on 6-05-2008

Sorry, the link I meant to include in my previous comment was http://flickr.com/photos/joshlewis/1384121895/

Drew Olanoff said 10:32PM on 6-05-2008

Sorry about that! No harm intended. I read the attribution incorrectly.

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