Patent ID: 7778980

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for providing disparate content as a playlist of media files for rendering on a portable media player, the method comprising: aggregating content of disparate data formats from disparate data sources, wherein the aggregated content is in a data format incompatible with the portable media player; assigning a portion of the aggregated content to a channel, wherein assigning a portion of the aggregated content to a channel further comprises: identifying attributes of the aggregated content; characterizing the attributes of the aggregated content; and assigning a portion of the aggregated content to a predetermined channel in dependence upon characterized attributes and channel assignment rules; creating a plurality of media files including the portion of the aggregated content assigned to the channel, the media files being in a data format compatible with the portable media player, wherein creating a plurality of media flies including the portion of the aggregated content assigned to the channel further comprises: creating metadata describing the content selected for inclusion in each media file of the playlist; and storing the created metadata as metadata associated with the media file; storing the plurality of media files as a playlist; storing the playlist on the portable media player; and rendering the plurality of media files of the playlist on the portable media player.