Portable VLC Media Player is now VLC Media Player Portable, and version 0.8.5 has been released as a multilingual package. For the unfamiliar, VLC Portable is the popular VLC Media Player packaged with a PortableApps.com Launcher as a portable app, so you can take your audio and video files along with a player that can handle them all with you. This new release adds in several new features, including: the ability to run from a CD, in-place upgrades, partial WINE support and more. Read on for all the details...
Portable VLC becomes VLC Portable
The first thing you'll notice is that the name has been changed from Portable VLC to VLC Portable. Why the name change? The new names are designed to put the base application names first. All of the apps here at PortableApps.com are being renamed in this fashion over the next week. This makes it easier to sort and use your apps, too.
What's New?
So, what's new? Quite a few things:
Live/CD Support - VLC Portable supports running from a CD or other read-only media right out of the box, making it even easier to carry with you and use on other systems. Full details are in the support topic on Running from a CD.
In-Place Upgrades - VLC Portable now supports the ability to do what we're calling an "in-place upgrade". This means that you can extract it right over an existing installation of VLC Portable without losing any of your settings and it'll Just Work. This will apply to future releases of VLC Portable as you'll still need to manually update due to the directory changes.
Partial WINE Support - The VLC Portable Launcher is now compatible with WINE running under Linux/UNIX even though VLC itself does not yet fully function within WINE. This means you can install and configure VLC Portable within WINE even though it will not play any media.
Grab a Copy
The new release of VLC Portable is available for immediate download from the VLC Media Player Portable homepage.
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Comments
Hmm.
Could I just make one suggestion, John? "VLC Media Player Portable" has to be most awkward name for an application ever (not to mention it's too long for the sidebar and wraps, which looks horrible). I'd suggest just calling it "VLC Portable."
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< ExplosivePrincess 1.5 Atomic Bomb Edition >
warning: keep explosiveprincess away from children
Only Problem
VLC Portable means nothing to most people. It's awkward, I know, but (1) VLC Media Player is the full name of the app... albeit with lowercae letters and (2) VLC Portable listed in news stories or on website would mean nothing to the avg Joe. So, it stands.
...
Is that really a valid argument, though? "FileZilla Portable" and "ClamWin Portable" mean nothing to the average Joe, either.
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< ExplosivePrincess 1.5 Atomic Bomb Edition >
warning: keep explosiveprincess away from children
Two points
I had two points.... point 2 was only part of it... point 1 stated that the full name of the app is "VLC media player"... that's what it is refered to on the Videolan site. All the apps go by the full name and then the word portable unless it would look really bad (eg: "ClamWin Free Antivirus Portable"). VLC Media Player Portable is a bit awkward, but it is livable. (And VLC Portable for short is fine)