Abstract: The invention is a generalized solution for management of multimedia assets. Generalized interfaces are used between a browser component, indexing server, archive server, tertiary storage manager, and method player components. The generalized interface defines a communication protocol that can be used by any browser, indexing server, archive server, tertiary storage manager, or method player component. Thus, system components supplied by multiple vendors can be interconnected to form a multimedia system that communicates using the generalized interfaces of the invention. A browser component can accept input such as search requests and display multimedia data. An indexing server component includes a data catalogue that catalogues multimedia data. The catalogue can be used to identify catalogue elements associated with data that can satisfy a search request. A search mechanism is used to identify the desired multimedia data.