Media processing methods and arrangements

A method comprising:

• identifying, to a user, a plurality of different items of entertainment content, a first item of said plurality of items being available from multiple alternate media sources;
• receiving user input selecting said first item;
• and
• selecting a media source from which to obtain the first item, from among the multiple alternative media sources, said selecting of the media source being performed by a processor configured to perform such act, making use of stored rule data that is customized to the user.

A method comprising:

• through information received by a viewer's cell phone, identifying an item of entertainment content being rendered to the viewer by a first device that is different than the cell phone, the identified item being an episode of a series;
• on a screen of the cell phone, presenting a listing of other episodes in the series, from which the viewer can select, and listing multiple alternative media sources for at least one of said other episodes;
• receiving viewer input selecting an episode from said listing;
• and
• selecting a media source from which to obtain the selected episode, from among said multiple alternative media sources.

A system comprising at least one processor, at least one data store, and an interface to other systems, said data store including database information that identifies—for a given episode of a given television program—plural different sources from which the episode can be obtained, the data store further including instructions that configure the system to provide database information to a user system, enabling the user system to identify a source for said episode that meets a preference criterion, wherein the database information allows the preference criterion to specify that the source be:

• (a) either an on-demand source or a scheduled source;
• (b) either a free source or a paid source;
• (c) either a streaming source or a file download source;
• or
• (d) either the iTunes service, the Hulu service, or the YouTube service.

A system comprising at least one processor, at least one data store, and an interface to other systems, said data store including database information that identifies—for a given episode of a given television program—plural different sources from which the episode can be obtained, the data store further including instructions that configure the system to provide database information to a user system, enabling identification of a source for said episode that meets a criterion, wherein said plural sources identified in the database information comprise:

• (a) both an on-demand source and a scheduled source;
• (b) both a free source and a paid source;
• (c) both a streaming source and a file download source;
• or
• (d) at least two of the iTunes service, the Hulu service, and the YouTube service.