A handheld electronic device (100; 202; 600), comprising: a. a graphical display (204; 610) for displaying media content to a user; b. a user interface (104; 206; 605) for receiving an input from the user; c. a wireless internet connection for wirelessly communicating data over an Internet protocol based connection; d. a media player for playing media content; e. a contact list module containing identities of one or more contacts (232; 312) and configured to collect media status information from a device associated with the respective contacts (232; 312) via a server capable of communicating with said device associated with the respective contacts (232; 312); f. the graphical display (204; 610) of the handheld electronic device (100; 202; 600) being configured to display a contact list (212; 312), wherein the contact list (212; 304) includes the media status information for each of the contacts (232; 312) as a list of the media items, wherein if the device associated with the respective contacts (232; 312) in the contact list (212; 312) is currently engaged in media activity, the collected media status information comprises the media item currently being accessed by the device associated with the respective contacts (232; 312) in the contact list (212; 304), and if the device associated with the respective contacts (232; 312) is not currently engaged in any media activity, the collected media status information comprises the media item that was last accessed by the device associated with the respective contacts (232; 312); g. wherein the media items comprise real time streaming data provided by a media source; h. wherein the electronic handheld device (100; 202; 600) is configured to automatically connect to the media source upon receiving a user input requesting the real time streaming data being accessed by the device associated with the respective contacts (232; 312); and i. to automatically download the real time streaming data from the media source. a. a graphical display (204; 610) for displaying media content to a user; b. a user interface (104; 206; 605) for receiving an input from the user; c. a wireless internet connection for wirelessly communicating data over an Internet protocol based connection; d. a media player for playing media content; e. a contact list module containing identities of one or more contacts (232; 312) and configured to collect media status information from a device associated with the respective contacts (232; 312) via a server capable of communicating with said device associated with the respective contacts (232; 312); f. the graphical display (204; 610) of the handheld electronic device (100; 202; 600) being configured to display a contact list (212; 312), wherein the contact list (212; 304) includes the media status information for each of the contacts (232; 312) as a list of the media items, wherein if the device associated with the respective contacts (232; 312) in the contact list (212; 312) is currently engaged in media activity, the collected media status information comprises the media item currently being accessed by the device associated with the respective contacts (232; 312) in the contact list (212; 304), and if the device associated with the respective contacts (232; 312) is not currently engaged in any media activity, the collected media status information comprises the media item that was last accessed by the device associated with the respective contacts (232; 312); g. wherein the media items comprise real time streaming data provided by a media source; h. wherein the electronic handheld device (100; 202; 600) is configured to automatically connect to the media source upon receiving a user input requesting the real time streaming data being accessed by the device associated with the respective contacts (232; 312); and i. to automatically download the real time streaming data from the media source.