Patent ID: 8255640

Claim:
In a media device that includes a cache memory and a storage device for storage of at least a media data file corresponding to a media item, a method comprising: receiving an indication of a degree of skip support; reserving a portion of the cache memory for storage of a number of media item snippets, wherein the number of media item snippets is directly related to the degree of skip support, and wherein each media item snippet includes only a portion of the actual media data itself for a respective media item; receiving the number of media item snippets directly from the storage device; storing the number of media item snippets only in the reserved portion of the cache memory; in accordance with a media item selection by an end-user, playing the selected media item snippet directly from the cache memory; skipping to another media item snippet when a skip request is received; when the skip request is not received, downloading a remaining portion of the media data file corresponding to the played snippet directly from the storage device; and playing the remaining portion of the media data file.