Patent ID: 8001164

Claim:
A method for providing file information in a portable player, comprising: (a) displaying a list of files on a screen of the portable player; (b) comparing a selected file with at least one of a file preceding the selected file or a file following the selected file in the list, wherein said comparing includes comparing predetermined types of file information, and wherein at least one type of file information of the selected file and the preceding or following file is identical and at least one type of file information is not identical; (c) displaying in a same screen the non-identical file information and not displaying the identical file information at a position in the list which corresponds to the selected file on the screen based on the comparison of the selected file to the at least one of the preceding file or the following file; and (d) displaying in the same screen at least the identical file information at a position in the list which corresponds to the preceding file or the following file, wherein: the files are stored in the portable player before said comparing is performed, the non-identical file information is on a different hierarchical information level than the identical file information, said method further comprising: displaying a first plurality of files before the comparing in (b), the first plurality of files including a first file that corresponds to the selected file and a second file having all different file information from the first file, the first file displayed with the identical file information and the non-identical file information, the first file further being displayed in unselected form in the first plurality of files and wherein the following or preceding file is not displayed with the first plurality of files, and displaying, after the comparing in (b), a second plurality of files that includes the first file in selected form and either the preceding file having the identical file information or the following file having the identical file information, the second plurality of files automatically displayed when an icon or key is activated while the first plurality of files is displayed, wherein the selected first file is displayed in the second plurality of files with the non-identical information and not the identical information, and wherein the preceding file or following file is displayed in the second plurality of files with at least the identical file information.