Generation and Consumption of Discrete Segments of Digital Media

A device for accessing a portion of a media file on a remote server, the media file having associated beginning and ending points in time, the device comprising:

• a memory having encoded thereon computer-executable instructions and data;
• and
• a processor functionally coupled to the memory and configured, by the computer-executable instructions, to perform at least the following actions,
• receiving a first uniform resource identifier associated with the media file;
• generating a first boundary point and a second boundary point associated with the portion of the media file, each of the first and second boundary points corresponding to a point in time between the beginning and ending points in time of the media file;
• generating a second uniform resource identifier configured to locate that portion of the media file between the first and the second boundary points;
• requesting from the remote server at least a part of the media file associated with the first uniform resource identifier;
• receiving at least the part of the media file from the remote server;
• and
• rendering the media file starting at the first boundary point and ending at the second boundary point.