Patent ID: 7653550

Claim:
A method for manipulating at least one audio file via a graphical user interface, the method comprising the steps of: displaying a timeline component having a set of time points indicative of a duration of an audio file, the audio file comprising a plurality of audio tracks; displaying a separate waveform component for each of the plurality of audio tracks, each waveform component having graphic elements that visually represent characteristics of an audio track of the plurality of audio tracks over said duration; wherein the timeline component and each waveform component are concurrently displayed on the graphical user interface; obtaining first input to said timeline component where said first input identifies a first time point and a second time point of said set of time points, and wherein the first time point and the second time point are identified by a user utilizing an input device to select, within said timeline component, the first time point and the second time point, wherein said first input includes selection of the first time point and dragging from the first time point to the second time point; in response to obtaining said first input, generating an initial selection overlay comprising an area of said timeline component and each waveform component, wherein said area starts at said first time point and ends at said second time point; obtaining second input, wherein the second input involves dragging said area to a region within the graphical user interface; in response to obtaining said second input, performing an operation involving just the portion of the audio file that corresponds to the area, wherein the operation is performed without obtaining input to a tool selection component between obtaining said first input and obtaining said second input; wherein the method for manipulating at least one audio file is performed by a computing device programmed to be a special purpose machine pursuant to instructions from program software.