Directing a Playback Device to Play a Media Item Selected by a Controller from a Media Server

A computer-implemented process performed by a processor in a digital media renderer, comprising:

• receiving, from a digital media controller, a resource identifier for a media item, the media item being located on a remote media server;
• instructing an application on the digital media renderer to access the media item using the resource identifier;
• receiving media data for the media item from the remote media server on which the media item is located;
• playing the media data on the digital media renderer in response to playback commands from the digital media controller.

An article of manufacture comprising a computer storage medium having computer program instructions encoded thereon that, when processed by a computer, instruct the computer to perform a process comprising:

• receiving, into memory, data referencing media data on a remote media server, the data including a resource identifier for a media item;
• determining if a digital media renderer can play the media item from the remote media server using the resource identifier;
• and
• communicating the resource identifier to the digital media renderer.