Distributed architecture for media playback system

Abstract

A method and system to provide media to a terminal coupled to a network, the terminal comprising a media playback component. The method and system provides for programmatically directing the terminal to access a first network site in the plurality of network sites, and causing the media playback component on the terminal to automatically load a first media web resource located at the first network site to playback a first media. The method and system also includes programmatically directing the terminal to access a second network site in the plurality of network sites, and causing the media playback component on the terminal to automatically load a second media web resource located at the second network site to playback a second media.

1 . A system for providing media from a network to a terminal, the terminal including a media playback component, the system comprising: 
 a first network site and a second network site, each network site locating one or more media network resources, each media network resource being locatable on the network by a corresponding address that accesses the media network resource; and    a network server module that communicates with the media playback component, the network server module identifying a first media network resource from the first network site and a second media network resource from the second network site, the network server module signaling the corresponding address of the first media network resource to the media playback component with control signals to cause the playback component to automatically load the first media network resource, the network server module automatically signaling the corresponding address of the second media network resource to the media playback component with control signals to cause the playback component to automatically load the second media network resource.    
   
   
       2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the network server module signals the corresponding addresses of the first and second media network resource to the terminal with control signals to automatically playback the first media network resource and then the second media network resource on the terminal.  
   
   
       3 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a database including the corresponding addresses of the one or more media network resources on each of the first and second network sites, wherein the network server module selects the first media network resource and the second media network resource from the database using a selection criteria.  
   
   
       4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the network server module is coupleable to the user terminal through the network.  
   
   
       5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the network server module is located on the user terminal.  
   
   
       6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the network server module identifies the first media network resource and the second media network resource through a random selection.  
   
   
       7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the network server module signals the first media network resource, the second media network resource, and other media network resources to the terminal in a predetermined order, the other media network resources being located on the first network site, the second network site, or an other network site.  
   
   
       8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first media network resource and the second media network resource are locatable over the Internet.  
   
   
       9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first media network resource and the second media network resource include a combination of music and/or video.  
   
   
       10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the corresponding addresses of the one or more media network resources on the first network site and on the second network site each contain no internal links.