Abstract: A user listening to a content item on a preceding device and wishes to continue with the listening experience on a subsequent device initiates a continuity request from the subsequent device to the preceding device. The preceding device responds to the received continuity request by determining a multiverse identification that is contained in the continuity request, such that the multiverse identification uniquely identifies the content item that is currently playing on the preceding device over all known playback devices with which it has communicated. The subsequent device determines if the content item exists in a local database of the subsequent device and, if it exists, the subsequent device plays the content item from the local database of the subsequent device, and otherwise obtains the content item.