Sony Corporation

Masamichi Ono

Junichiro Sakata

Takatoshi Nakamura

Shinichi Iriya

Tetsuya Kohno

Toshihiko Kawai

Atsushi Sakaida

An object of the present invention is to allow a client to make a request for music data stored in a server and to receive it and play it back. A client programcontrols the sending of a request signal to a server, the reception and playback processing of music data from the server, and the display of a GUI performed by a display controller, and outputs the music data received by a communication unitfrom the serverto an audio data converter. A server programcontrols the sending of music data to the client, and registration of information in a music database, a link information database, and a ranking information database, searches the music databasefor the requested music data, and sends the music data to the client. The present invention can be applied to a personal computer, a PDA, a cellular telephone, a desk-top playback device, a portable playback device, and a simplified playback device.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Masamichi Ono