DISQUS

Wouldn't the same go for web browsers, since one can only view the active tab while the other tabs are idling?

Plus, the default setting should allow for playback only in the current view. Those who want different should be allowed change the settings by themselves.

(Cross-posted from Digg)

The only way that I'd agree with a movie player having tabs for different movies being played within the same window would be if there was a way to choose from and open movies from the filesystem within the window. That way, I can find a random video and then middle-click it to open it up for later viewing. I'd say something like a Firefox history sidebar or OS X-like side drawer would be necessary for tabbed browsing of movies within the same window.

Without such an addition alongside, I fail to see the need for tabs in such an application as a media player.

Also, I'm surprised that such an application as Miro (based on Firefox, meant for viewing downloaded videos from the web) doesn't allow for tabbed browsing, which would allow for better multitasking.

So it's not necessarily the appropriateness of the tabs or the placement of tabs in an application, but exactly how these tabs are implemented as part of the application's overall user experience.

So totem and other players can do WITH the tabs, but they can definitely do with an active file/folder view to tab-open from.