Providing Information Associated with a Media Item

Abstract

Examples described herein involve providing for display while a media item is being played by a media playback system, information associated with the media item. The information may be additional to information provided on a control interface for controlling the media playback system. In one example, a computing device may receive data indicating a media item being played by a playback device of a media playback system, and based on the data indicating the media item, transmit to one or more media information sources, a request for information associated with the media item. The computing device may then receive from the one or more media information sources, data indicating information associated with the media item, and provide for display on a graphical display, representations of at least a portion of the information.

1 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:
 receiving, from a media playback system that comprises one or more playback devices and at least one control device configured to control playback of media items by the one or more playback devices, data identifying a media item that is queued for playback by one or more playback devices of the media playback system, wherein the one or more playback devices are different from the computing device and the control device;   sending, to one or more computing systems that are different from the one or more playback devices, a request for information associated with the media item;   receiving, from the one or more computing systems, the information associated with the media item; and   causing a display device to display a graphical representations of the information associated with the media item.   
     
     
         2 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the data identifying the media item indicates one or more of the following: (a) a track title, (b) an artist name, (c) an album name, (d) a genre, (e) a track identifier, or (f) a service provider from which the media item is streamed by the media playback system. 
     
     
         3 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the functions further comprise:
 identifying the one or more computing systems based on the data identifying the media item, and wherein sending the request for information associated with the media item comprises sending the request to the identified one or more computing systems.   
     
     
         4 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the received data identifying the media item indicates the one or more computing systems.   
     
     
         5 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the information associated with the media item comprises one or more of the following: (a) biographical information associated with an artist of the media item, (b) one or more facts about the media item, (c) one or more images associated with the media item, (d) information associated with a genre of the media item, (e) one or more artists similar to the artist of the media item, (f) one or more media items similar to the media item being played, (g) social media content associated with the media item, (h) social media content associated with the artist of the media item, or (i) song lyrics associated with the media item. 
     
     
         6 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the data identifying the media item comprises one or more uniform resource identifiers (URIs) of the information associated with the media item. 
     
     
         7 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the data identifying the media item comprises receiving the data identifying the media item while the media item is being played by the one or more playback devices of the media playback system. 
     
     
         8 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the data identifying the media item comprises receiving the data from a given control device of the media playback system, and wherein the given control device is configured to control playback of media items by one or more playback devices of the media playback system. 
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , the functions further comprising:
 prior to receiving the data identifying the media item, sending, to the media playback system, a request for the data identifying the media item.   
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein the one or more computing systems comprise a given control device of the media playback system, and wherein sending the request for information associated with the media item comprises sending, to the given control device, the request to receive the information, wherein the given control device is configured to control playback of media items by one or more playback devices of the media playback system. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the functions further comprise:
 prior to receiving the data identifying the media item, receiving a command to launch a software application associated with the media playback system;   launching the software application in response to receiving the command; and   sending, to the media playback system, data indicating that the software application is running.   
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the command to launch the software application comprises a command to download the software application from a computing system corresponding to a uniform resource identifier (URI), and wherein the functions further comprise:
 prior to launching the software application, downloading the software application from the computing system corresponding to the URI.   
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the media item is a first media item being played by the one or more playback devices while the display device is displaying the graphical representation of the information associated with the first media item, and wherein the functions further comprise:
 receiving data identifying a second media item that is to be played by the one or more playback devices subsequent to playback of the first media item by the one or more playback devices;   based on the data identifying the second media item, sending to one or more computing systems, a request for information associated with the second media item;   receiving, from the one or computing systems, the information associated with the second media item; and   while the one or more playback devices are playing the first media item, causing the display device to display a graphical representations of the information associated with the second media item.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein sending the request for information associated with the media item comprises:
 sending, to a first computing system of the one or more computing systems, a first request for first information associated with the media item; and   sending, to a second computing system of the one or more computing systems, a second request for second information associated with the media item.   
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the functions further comprise:
 prior to sending the first request, receiving data indicating that the second computing system is a computing system from which to request information that is not available from the first computing system.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the functions further comprise:
 receiving, from the second computing system, the second information associated with the media item.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the information associated with the media item comprises two or more items of metadata, and wherein causing the display device to display the graphical representation of the information comprises:
 causing the display device to display the two or more items of metadata at respective locations defined by a display template that maps the items of metadata to the respective locations.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein causing the display device to display the graphical representation further comprises:
 while two or more playback devices of the media playback system are playing the media item in synchrony as a group of playback devices, causing the display device to display an indication of the group of playback devices that includes the two or more playback devices.   
     
     
         19 . A method comprising:
 receiving, via a computing device from a media playback system that comprises one or more playback devices and at least one control device configured to control playback of media items by the one or more playback devices, data identifying a media item that is queued for playback by one or more playback devices of the media playback system, wherein the one or more playback devices are different from the computing device and the control device;   sending, via the computing device to one or more computing systems that are different from the one or more playback devices, a request for information associated with the media item;   receiving, via the computing device from the one or more computing systems, the information associated with the media item; and   causing, via the computing device, a display device to display a graphical representation of the information associated with the media item.   
     
     
         20 . A computing device comprising:
 a processor; and   a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:
 receiving, from a media playback system that comprises one or more playback devices and at least one control device configured to control playback of media items by the one or more playback devices, data identifying a media item that is queued for playback by one or more playback devices of the media playback system, wherein the one or more playback devices are different from the computing device and the control device; 
 sending, to one or more computing systems, a request for information associated with the media item; 
 receiving, from the one or more computing systems that are different from the one or more playback devices, the information associated with the media item; and 
 causing a display device to display a graphical representation of the information associated with the media item.