Patent ID: 8150937

Claim:
A method for synchronizing media contents between a portable media player and a media host, said method comprising: determining whether a wireless connection between the media player and the media host is available; establishing the wireless connection between the media player and the media host when said determining determines that the wireless connection is available; determining whether the media player is associated with the media host, the media player having a unique identifier assigned thereto, and said determining determines that the media player is deemed associated with the media host if the media host has previously stored the unique identifier of the media player in a storage device at the media host; synchronizing media content between the media player and the media host via the wireless connection when said determining determines that the media player is associated with the media host, the media content to be synchronized including a plurality of media items, and said synchronizing including at least determining one or more of the media items to be copied from the media host to the media player; determining whether the media player is connected to the media host by a wired connection; synchronizing the media content between the media player and the media host via the wired connection when said determining determines that the media player is connected to the media host by a wired connection and when said determining determines that the media player is associated with the media host; and compressing the determined one or more of the media items to be copied prior to being transmitted from the host device to the media player via the wireless connection, said compressing forming determined one or more compressed media items to be copied, wherein said synchronizing operates to synchronize media content between the media player and the media host via the wireless connection when said determining determines that the media player is not connected to the media host by a wired connection and when said determining determines that the media player is associated with the media host, wherein said synchronizing media content between the media player and the media host via the wireless connection comprises copying the determined one or more compressed media items to be copied from the media host to the media player, and wherein said synchronizing media content between the media player and the media host via the wired connection comprises copying the determined one or more of the media items to be copied from the media host to the media player.