I think the "skins" only change the colors and text fonts though. Not the underlying GUI operation. The clunky way they tried to take over the screen from the OS - even going so far as making their own (bad) version of the Finder to browse for files - is what's wrong.
A change of skin is not simply a change of colors and fonts. It affects the views of the library, the functions that are available, and the features that are available.
I really have no idea what you are talking about regarding a file finder for browsing. The only time I've even ever used a file browser in Kodi is when i'm telling it where to find things. This only needs to happen at the initial setup. You have to point it to your music and to any directory where you want it to save data. You can do it, but trying to choose and play music through Kodi using its file server is a poor experience.
It works like this... You point Kodi to your
tagged music library(s). Kodi loads the information into its SQL library. If you change anything in the library, Kodi updates itself (either manually or automatically depending how you set it). During the import, Kodi will scrape the internet (from sources you can specify) for artwork, artist bio, other albums, similar bands etc, etc. It stores all this information in its data base.
When Kodi runs, it brings up a screen of albums, or songs, or artists (the choice is specified by the user) of everything in the library. I always choose an artist view. On load, my screen comes up with a wall of artist thumbnails that can be browsed. The type of view you get is chosen by the user and is a function of the skin that is loaded. It could show thumbnails, it could show titles, it could show both. It could show a single album cover that works like a rolodex that you page through. It can show a simple list. Different skins offer different views. Choose the view you like. I use an artist wall. When I click on a given artist, another view comes up showing all the artists albums that I have. Once again, this view is adjustable based on skin. You can navigate to a given album. Click it, and another view shows up, this time showing song titles, again the view is adjustable based on skin. I use a list type display for this, but there are others. You can choose any track on the album, click it and it plays. And the remainder of the album continues to play until you either stop it, or choose a different track, or the album ends. There are also ways to have it choose tracks at random, or from a playlist you have created.
I have it set so that while the album plays, the video in the background shows a slideshow of artist fanart that Kodi has scraped, and it continues to scrape as the album plays, so if it finds new artwork, it shows that too. As the song progresses, it provides lyrics (if available). You can choose how the lyrics are shown, self-scrolling or not, a line at a time, or a page at a time. I typically scroll mine. All of this is a function of the skin used. not all of them do slideshows. Not all of them do line by line lyrics. At the bottom of the screen is a moving line of text that provides an artist bio, similar bands, a discography, etc.
Don't like the idea of an artist slideshow? No problem. You can have it show a visualization, usually in some way tied to the rhythm of the music. There are dozens if not hundreds of types of visualizations available.
There are also dozens of different skins available, all with different themes, functions and features. Some are geared toward music. Some toward video. Some can do both equally well.
And like Atrocity said, this can all be controlled with a smartphone. And the phone controls the OSD of both the main screen and the phone. I use a wireless keyboard, as my preference.
And oh yeah... you can change the colors and fonts too
