Patent ID: 7076561

Claim:
In a personalized audio system comprising a consumer device comprising a user interface for receiving input from a user of the system and a storage device for storing data, a method for providing one or more personalized audio channels, wherein each personalized audio channel has a profile associated therewith and each profile comprises profile information related to or concerning the user's sound recording preferences, the method comprising the steps of: storing a plurality of sound recordings on the storage device, wherein the plurality of sound recordings forms a sound recording library, and wherein the plurality of sound recordings comprises sound recordings that are owned by the user and sound recordings that are not owned by the user; maintaining a sound recording list that identifies all of the sound recordings that are included in the library; storing data that can be used to identify those sound recordings included in the library that are owned by the user; adding a new sound recording to the sound recording library, wherein the new sound recording is owned by the user; updating the list to indicate that the new sound recording is included in the library and storing data that indicates that the new sound recording is owned by the user; receiving from the user an indication that the user desires to listen to a selected one of the one or more personalized audio channels; selecting, in response to the received indication, a sound recording based on the profile associated with the selected audio channel; retrieving the selected sound recording from the library or from a master library; and playing the selected sound recording for the user.