Acquisition, management and synchronization of podcasts
First Claim
1. A method for subscribing to a podcast from a client application operating on a personal computer, said method comprising:
- (a) discovering, via the client application, a particular podcast from a plurality of podcasts available at an on-line media store;
(b) subscribing from the client application to the particular podcast; and
(c) subsequently acquiring, via the client application, podcast metadata and podcast media content of the particular podcast.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Improved techniques that facilitate use of podcasts are disclosed. The improved techniques can pertain to creating, publishing, hosting, accessing, subscribing, managing, transferring, and/or playing podcasts. According to one aspect, a client application can facilitate discovery of a podcast of interest from a plurality of podcasts, subscribe to the podcast of interest, and provide subsequent management of the podcast of interest. The management of the podcast of interest can include acquiring updated podcast data with little or no user interaction required. According to another aspect, some or all podcasts locally available to a client application can be copied (e.g., synchronized) with a portable media device so that the podcasts can be conveniently available and played by either the client application or the portable media device.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method for subscribing to a podcast from a client application operating on a personal computer, said method comprising:
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(a) discovering, via the client application, a particular podcast from a plurality of podcasts available at an on-line media store;
(b) subscribing from the client application to the particular podcast; and
(c) subsequently acquiring, via the client application, podcast metadata and podcast media content of the particular podcast. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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16. A method as recited in claim 16,
wherein said displaying (d) displays at least a portion of the podcast metadata for a plurality of podcasts, and wherein said displaying (d) distinguishably displays those episodes that are locally available and those episodes which need to be downloaded in order to be played.
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24. A computer readable medium including at least computer program code for subscribing to a podcast, said method comprising:
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computer program code for discovering a particular podcast from a plurality of podcasts available at an on-line media store;
computer program code for subscribing to the particular podcast; and
computer program code for acquiring podcast metadata and podcast media content of the particular podcast. - View Dependent Claims (25)
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26. A system for accessing podcasts, comprising:
a client device operating a media management application for discovering at least one podcast from an on-line media store having descriptive information and access information for a plurality of podcasts, for acquiring the at least one podcast from the on-line media store, and for copying the at least one podcast to a portable media player. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28)
- 29. A method for maintaining podcasts comprising updating podcast data at a client device as well as copying appropriate portions of the podcast data to a portable computing device.
Specification