Heterogeneous media player

A mobile device, comprising:

• an application for organizing and rendering media files;
• a plurality of playlists, the application responsive to the playlists for identifying, for each of a plurality of entries on a playlist, a source for rendering content defined by each entry in the plurality of entries;
• a heterogeneous player configured to determine, for each entry, a corresponding player compatible with the entry for rendering the content, the heterogeneous player operable to instantiate and invoke the corresponding player via a message exchange to the corresponding instantiated player for rendering the entry, the corresponding player responsive to a common graphical user interface (GUI) for exchanging rendering commands;
• a network interface configured to receive, from the identified source, the content for rendering and directing the content to the corresponding player;
• and
• a speaker and screen to render the received content via the GUI and the corresponding player.

A computer program product on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform a method of organizing and rendering media files, the method comprising:

• identifying, for each of a plurality of entries on a playlist, a source for rendering content defined by each entry in the plurality of entries;
• determining, for each entry, a corresponding player compatible with the entry for rendering the content;
• instantiating the corresponding player on a user device, the corresponding player responsive to a common graphical user interface (GUI) for exchanging rendering commands received from the user device with the corresponding player;
• receiving, from the identified source, the content for rendering and directing the content to the corresponding player;
• exchanging, with the GUI, messages to the corresponding instantiated player for rendering the entry;
• and
• rendering the received content via the GUI and the corresponding player.