Automatically synchronizing mobile and non-mobile instances of a customized station

Abstract

A method for execution by one or more computing devices includes receiving, by a mobile device, a mobile device instance of a customized station. The method further includes initiating playback of the customized station via the mobile device. The method further includes automatically synchronizing the mobile device instance of the customized station with a non-mobile device instance of the customized station in accordance with synchronization settings associated with the customized station to produce a synchronized mobile device instance of the customized station and a synchronized non-mobile device instance of the customized station, where when the synchronized mobile device instance is switched to the synchronized non-mobile device instance, the playback of the customized station from the synchronized mobile device instance continues uninterrupted via the synchronized non-mobile device instance.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for execution by one or more computing devices that include a processor, the method comprises:
 receiving, by a mobile device, a mobile device instance of a customized station;   initiating playback of the customized station via the mobile device; and   automatically synchronizing the mobile device instance of the customized station with a non-mobile device instance of the customized station in accordance with synchronization settings associated with the customized station to produce a synchronized mobile device instance of the customized station and a synchronized non-mobile device instance of the customized station, wherein when the synchronized mobile device instance is switched to the synchronized non-mobile device instance, the playback of the customized station from the synchronized mobile device instance continues uninterrupted via the synchronized non-mobile device instance.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprises:
 determining preferred content to be included in the customized station, wherein the preferred content includes at least music. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprises:
 determining perishable content to be included in the customized station, wherein the perishable content is determined based on an input from a first user of the mobile device via a communication network, and wherein the perishable content includes non-music content. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  further comprises:
 determining the synchronization settings include at least one time period designated for the perishable content. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2  further comprises:
 determining the synchronization settings include at least one time period designated for the preferred content. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2  further comprises:
 during the automatic synchronizing, transmitting a play history of the preferred content played on the mobile device to a central server. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the play history comprises a timestamp of when the preferred content was played. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the play history comprises ratings regarding the preferred content. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the play history comprises identification of certain content of the preferred content that was skipped. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the play history comprises identification of a computing device of the one or more computing device on which the preferred content was played. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the preferred content is one or more of:
 audio;   video;   blog entries;   audio blog;   RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed;   recorded speech;   bulletins;   flashes;   news releases; and   a library of user-generated content.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the user-generated content is uploaded from another mobile device to a publishing server for inclusion in a common content repository. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the common content repository is configured to be any of:
 categorized, organized for retrieval, aggregated, or searchable.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the common content repository includes audio distribution lists. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the common content repository includes user-designated content access restrictions. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the user-designated content access restrictions include one or more of:
 authorization for a specific group of users;   automatic distribution to a group of users at a certain time; and   automatic distribution to a group of users upon occurrence of a certain event.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1  further comprises:
 when the synchronizing is complete, generating an additional schedule of preferred content to replace previous preferred content included in the customized station. 
 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the additional schedule of the preferred content is available for subsequent synchronization. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein, during the synchronization, the customized station is one or more of:
 downloaded to the mobile device; and   streamed to the mobile device.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1  further comprises:
 receiving a user selection to enable the automatic synchronization with the non-mobile device instance.