Abstract: The present invention provides an information processing apparatus which can direct a user to a playlist different from a playlist being reproduced. There is provided the information processing apparatus including a content storage unit storing a plurality of contents therein, a playlist storage unit storing a plurality of playlists which is related to at least some of the plurality of contents, a reproducing unit sequentially reproducing a plurality of contents belonging to a first playlist in a plurality of playlists, a candidate content extracting unit extracting one or more candidate contents relating to a content being reproduced by the reproducing unit from the content storage unit, a playlist extracting unit extracting a second playlist to which the extracted candidate contents belong from the playlist storage unit, and a playlist switching unit switching a playlist to be reproduced by the reproducing unit from the first playlist into the second playlist.

Abstract: In an information processing apparatus adapted to determine information, to be presented to a user, as to one or more contents, a calculation unit calculates the similarity between a first search axis, produced on the basis of information associated with the user, for use as a reference on the basis of which to present contents and a second search axis, produced on the basis of information associated with one of other users, for use as a reference on the basis of which to present contents, and a display control unit controls displaying of information associated with contents with reference to first and second search axes detected as being similar to each other.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is an information processing apparatus that presents, to a user who performs a search among a plurality of contents distributed over a search space formed using N, N is an integer greater than one, types of search axes, assistant information for assisting the user with the search. The apparatus includes: specification means for specifying a first range; range presentation means for presenting a state of distribution of contents within the first range, and presenting the state of the distribution of the contents within a second range; and narrowing-down axis presentation means for selecting, and presenting the narrowing-down axis candidate or candidates to the user.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus is disclosed which includes: a creation section configured to create, through learning, a search axis which serves as a reference for presenting contents and which is determined by feature quantities of the contents and either by a history of reproduction of the contents by a user or by evaluations of the contents by the user; and a display control section configured to control display of the presentation of the contents in reference to the search axis having been created.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a content reproduction apparatus for reproducing a content based on a playlist to which a plurality of contents belong, including, a reproduction section configured to reproduce a content, and a control section configured to select a predetermined one of playlists in response to an input to an inputting section and control the reproduction section so as to apply a predetermined effect based on the selected playlist to a content of the playlist to reproduce the content.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a reproducing apparatus including, a content storage block configured to store content and attribute information thereof by relating with each other, an input block configured to enter a command, a reproducing block configured to reproduce content, and a control block configured to control the reproducing block such that, when a content switching command is entered from the input block during reproduction of a first piece of content by the reproducing block, the first piece of content is switched to another piece of content that belongs to related list information to which at least one piece of content related with the first piece of content belongs, the another piece of content having been generated on the basis of attribute information of the first piece of content, and then the another piece of content is reproduced.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a reproduction apparatus for reproducing audio data. The apparatus includes: an analysis section configured to start an analysis of characteristics of audio data recorded on a recording medium as audio data having its characteristic unanalyzed yet upon detection of a predetermined state of a light processing load borne by the reproduction apparatus. The apparatus further includes a registration section configured to register audio data having its characteristic already analyzed on a specific play list prescribing an order of reproduction of audio data on the basis of the characteristics of the audio data; and a reproduction section configured to reproduce audio data from the recording medium in accordance with the specific play list.

Abstract: A display control apparatus is provided for controlling displaying of a play list specifying a reproduction sequence of a plurality of pieces of content. The display control apparatus has a play list feature extraction block configured to extract a feature of a play list on the basis of a plurality of content belonging to the play list, a display pattern selection block configured to select a display pattern for displaying the play list on the basis of the feature of the play list, the feature being extracted by the feature extraction block, and a control block configured to execute control such that the play list is displayed on a display block on the basis of the display pattern selected by the display pattern selection block. The novel configuration provides new ways of enjoying content.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a reproducing apparatus for continuously reading and reproducing a plurality of content data items from a content data storage unit which stores the plurality of content data items and a plurality of specific position information items representative of specific positions each corresponding to a specific portion of each of the content data items. The reproducing apparatus includes: an input unit; a reproduction unit; and a control unit.

Abstract: The present invention provides a reproducing apparatus for reproducing a plurality of pieces of content data stored in a content data storage unit according to a play list defining reproduction order of the content data. The apparatus includes a play list storage unit, a request information generating unit, and a play list reconstructing unit. The play list storage unit stores the play list having a play list generating rule and identifying information for identifying the content data matching the play list generating rule. The request information generating unit generates reconstruction requesting information for requesting reconstruction of the play list. The play list reconstructing unit reconstructs at least a part of the play list stored in the play list storage unit into a play list having the play list generating rule corresponding to an apparatus use condition in response to the reconstruction requesting information generated by the request information generating unit.

Abstract: The present invention provides a data recording apparatus, a data recording method, and a data recording program. This data recording apparatus includes: a section identification block configured to, in mixed data mixingly formed by a music part and another part different from the music part, identify a music part section equivalent to the music part and another part section equivalent to the another part; a data format conversion block configured to convert a data format of the mixed data; a recording block configured to record the mixed data with the data format of the mixed data converted by the data format conversion block; and a control block configured to, when the data format of the mixed data is converted, control the data format conversion block to convert data formats of the music part section and that another part section into different data formats from each other.

Abstract: A taste profile production apparatus includes a storage section configured to retain one or more music data; a music analysis section configured to analyze the music data using a predetermined music analysis method to classify numerical value meta data, which are successive values for a plurality of individual items representative of characteristics of the music data, into a plurality of individual classes for the individual items; and a profile production section configured to take statistics of the number of the music data classified in the individual classes for the individual items to produce a taste profile representing a taste unique to a user of the taste profile production apparatus with regard to the music data.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus is disclosed which includes: an allocation device configured to allocate each of a plurality of picture display areas to each of a plurality of picture groups each made up of a plurality of pictures, the picture display areas being arrayed in a first direction on a screen for displaying pictures; and a display control device configured to display each of the pictures constituting each of the picture groups in screen locations which correspond to the picture display areas allocated to the picture groups and which are arrayed in a second direction different from the first direction and are determined by times associated with the pictures.