Abstract: Systems and methods are provided in which a content guide includes one or more tags associated with a single user, a group of users or a channel subscribed to by users that enables the retrieval of content for subsequent viewing and which can be supplemented by recommendations and data from other sources.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided in which a content guide includes one or more tags associated with a single user, a group of users or a channel subscribed to by users that enables the retrieval of content for subsequent viewing and which can be supplemented by recommendations and data from other sources.

Abstract: Playback and distribution systems and methods for multimedia files are provided. The multimedia files are encoded with flags associated with the content data of the multimedia files. Through the use of the flags, playback of the content is enhanced without significantly increasing the file size of the multimedia file.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided in which a content guide includes one or more tags associated with a single user, a group of users or a channel subscribed to by users that enables the retrieval of content for subsequent viewing and which can be supplemented by recommendations and data from other sources.

Abstract: Critical information or playback data is included in a media file thereby enabling multimedia content to be decoded and presented even when only some of the multimedia content is partially available.

Abstract: Playback and distribution systems and methods for multimedia files are provided. The multimedia files are encoded with flags associated with the content data of the multimedia files. Through the use of the flags, playback of the content is enhanced without significantly increasing the file size of the multimedia file.

Abstract: A method comprises writing data to a disk using a write laser, and halting recording at a stopping point, prior to an end of the disk. The method further comprises reading the data recorded on the disk and evaluating the data. The method further comprises adjusting the characteristics of the write laser, if appropriate, and restarting the writing using the adjusted characteristics for the write laser.

Abstract: A computer system includes a host computer and a peripheral memory device such as a CD ROM which are interconnected by a bus including a plurality of pipes defined by packets, time division multiplexing, frequency division multiplexing, or code division multiplexing. A plurality of pipe configuration registers are maintained for controlling bus configuration. A BUS controller for the bus includes a plurality of registers for controlling data transfer including pipe data flow direction, packet size, control information, bandwidth setting, and descriptor pointer. The plurality of pipes can have different bandwidths and latencies to efficiently facilitate the transfer of commands, data, and control information. The peripheral memory device is able to transfer and receive data directly to and from the host computer using a dedicated pipe without the need of a buffer memory at the peripheral device.