Patent ID: 8595342

Claim:
A method of arranging synchronous display of a media broadcast, the media broadcast comprising a sequence of a plurality of media files, the method comprising: publishing, by a synchronization server, a listing of a plurality of available media broadcasts, wherein the plurality of available media broadcasts can be selected for play at one or more client devices; maintaining, only for each of the plurality of available media broadcasts currently being played at at least one client device, a virtual playhead comprising an indication of a media file currently being played in the media broadcast and an indication of a point at which the media file is being played; receiving, at the synchronization server, a request from a first client device to play a particular media broadcast; determining, in response to receiving the request from the first client device, that at least a second client device is playing the particular media broadcast by determining that a virtual playhead for the particular media broadcast is being maintained; and sending, from the synchronization server to the first client device, synchronization information comprising a location on one or more content servers of the media file indicated by the virtual playhead for the particular media broadcast and a point indicated by the virtual playhead for the particular media broadcast at which the media file is being played.