Methods and apparatus for identification and purchase of broadcast digital music and other types of information

Abstract

Identification information is extracted from a current broadcast of a piece or music or other type of information of interest to a user, and stored in a memory or other storage device, in response to a user command. The identification information includes sufficient information to identify at least one deliverable information item associated with the current broadcast, e.g., a CD or MP3 file which contains the particular piece of music. When the user later has access to a wired or wireless network connection, the extracted identification information is delivered over a network connection to a server which processes the delivered information to identify the deliverable information item associated with the broadcast. The user can then purchase the deliverable information item by appropriate interaction with the server. The extracted identification information may be stored in a removable memory device associated with a receiver which receives the broadcast. In this case, the removable memory device is subsequently removed from the receiver and inserted into another device which establishes the network connection for delivery of the identification information to the server.