Patent ID: 8775664

Claim:
A method of managing playback of content, the method comprising: playing back, at a playback device, a first media stream; receiving, at the playback device and while playing back the first media stream, an instruction to switch from playing back the first media stream to instead playing back a separate second media content; transitioning, at the playback device and in response to the instruction to switch to play back the second media content instead of the first media stream, the first media stream to a stand-by mode pausing the playback of the first media stream at the playback device, wherein the pausing the playback of the first media stream comprises pausing the playback at a first media file of the first media stream; maintaining, at the playback device, the first media stream in the stand-by mode, wherein the first media stream comprises one or more index files and a plurality of media files configured to be played back; continuing to acquire, from over a distributed network while in the stand-by mode and while playing back the second media content, the one or more index files of the first media stream, where the one or more index files of the first media stream identify the plurality of media files of the first media stream configured to be played back at the playback device, while not acquiring the media files of the first media stream while the first media stream is in the stand-by mode, wherein each of the one or more index files comprises: a listing of multiple media files of the plurality of media files in identifying the multiple media files, corresponding lists of access information used in acquiring the multiple media files to be played back, and corresponding playback timing associated with each of the multiple media files; tracking the one or more index files relative to a playback timing of the first media stream while in the stand-by mode, wherein the playback timing continues to increment while the first media stream is in the stand-by mode; and resuming, following a time period while the first media stream was paused, playback of the first media stream comprising: identifying a current playback timing corresponding to a time when a request to resume playback is received; identifying, through the tracking of the one or more index files, a second media file corresponding to the current playback timing intended to be played back at the current playback timing; and initiating playback of the second media file while not playing back one or more other media files designated in the one or more index files between the first media file and the second media file.