Patent ID: 8280889

Claim:
A method performed by a music server to build a music metadata library from music collections stored on a plurality of client computing devices, comprising: receiving, from a first client computing device of the plurality of client computing devices, an acoustic fingerprint that uniquely identifies a track stored in the first client computing device comparing the received acoustic fingerprint with a plurality of acoustic fingerprints contained in the music metadata library determining that the track is a known track when the received acoustic fingerprint matches one of the plurality of acoustic fingerprints contained in the music metadata library within a predetermined amount according to a defined similarity measure when the track is not a known track sending a message indicating the track is a new track to the first client computing device receiving acoustic metadata for the track, the acoustic metadata formed by compressing the track while retaining at least some of its musical characteristics, the acoustic metadata sent from the first client computing device in response to the message indicating the track is a new track storing the received acoustic fingerprint and the received acoustic metadata in the music metadata library.