Importance

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Abstract

A playback system and method allows for dynamic remapping of location identifiers in a playlist. An original playlist is created based on select content material located at a first set of storage locations. When the playlist is transferred to a different environment, having access to a second set of storage locations containing unknown content material, the playback device at this different environment searches the second set of storage locations for content material that corresponds to the items/songs in the playlist. If a correspondence is determined for a song in the playlist, the location identifier of the playlist for this song is updated to reflect its location in the second set of storage locations. If a correspondence is not found, the location identifier of the playlist for this song is updated to reflect a “not found” indication. Thereafter, when directed to effect a playback of the material in the playlist, the playback device will render the songs that were found at the second set of storage locations, and skip those that are marked “not found”. By dynamically updating the location identifiers of a playlist based on the available content at a given system, the playlist becomes a means for communicating a user's preferred set of songs without actually transferring the songs. In a preferred embodiment, additional filtering criteria may be applied, in addition to the availability of the material within the current environment.

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First Claim