VLC does not have Open Folder menu item

I'm trying to share music using a zip file with a bunch of folders, per album.

I need to tell the recipient how to play it. Obvious instruction will be to use VLC app.

But when I try to replicate the usage on my Mac, I do not see Open Folder action. If I "Open File" and select the root folder, VLC populates playlist with songs from the first subfolder (album) and user does not see any other folders (albums).

Who designs software like this? I do get it is free, and I'm not entitled, but question still stands... Is there a better standalone music player, that shows actual subfolders in GUI?

If I open a folder, I expect to see in the left panel my opened folder and expandable tree with all subfolders. So I can click-select any subfolder and press Play button.

Oddly enough, zip files are a supported playlist format in VLC, so you can just have them open the zip file. I don't recommend it, but it's technically a solution.

Making an actual playlist and having them load that instead would work around your VLC problem and should work in other music players. An .m3u playlist is fairly well supported, and it's really just a list of file names in the order you want them played. Remember to use relative filenames so it works wherever the zip file is extracted.