VLC Media Player sells itself in the iTunes App Store as an app that “reads almost every video file” that’s both “powerful and simple to use.” While it’s true that it is very simple to use, I’m not so sure I buy the claim that it reads almost every video file.
Upon downloading the VLC Media Player, the free app provides brief setup instructions to load media onto the app. It’s a short process that involves going into iTunes and making sure the app is set to accept shared files.
Once that’s done, you can load videos into the app where, at least in theory, they’d be available to watch in a handy media player. For the purpose of this review, I threw three different videos I had downloaded from the iTunes store into the app.
While all three loaded correctly, only one of them ended up playing. This seemed strange, given all three files were standard iTunes video files, which you’d think would be the most likely to play in an app sold in the iTunes App Store.
It’s unfortunate the playback is so sketchy too, because the app really is easy to use. The videos you load into the VCL Media Player appear in list format in the app, and you can easily move the video to any section you want to view.
Perhaps, in time, whatever bugs making playback spotty will be ironed out, and this will be a no-brainer download. For now, potential users should be prepared to be a bit let down.
