Method and system for allowing users to access and/or share media libraries, including multimedia collections of audio and video information via a wide area network

A method for accessing, over a wide area network, multimedia equipment for reproducing multimedia information recorded on data storage media, said method comprising the steps of:

• receiving, by a server over the wide area network, table of contents (TOC) data read from data storage media of a first user at a first equipment location, said server generating a list of contents of multimedia information recorded on said data storage media of the first user by matching said received TOC data against data stored in a database to thereby identify corresponding multimedia information;
• transferring, said server, said list of contents via said wide area network to a second user at a second equipment location who modified the generating list of contents by selecting items from said list of contents and rearranging the selected items to produce a rearranged list of contents,
• converting the rearranged list of contents to at least one command tor controlling the multimedia equipment;
• and
• controlling the multimedia equipment based on said one command, wherein the multimedia information recorded on the first user's storage media is reproduced on the multimedia equipment based on the rearranged list of contents.

A server comprising:

• receiving means for receiving table of contents (TOC) data over a wide area network, transmitted from equipment of a first user at a first equipment location, said TOC data having been read by said first user equipment from multimedia storage media retained therein;
• generating means for generating a list of contents of multimedia information of said first user by matching said received TOC data against data stored in a database to thereby identify corresponding multimedia information;
• transmitting means for transmitting said list of contents over the wide area network to a second user at a second equipment location, said second user rearranging the list of contents and transmitting the rearranged list back to the server;
• and,
• means for receiving the rearranged list and transmitting information corresponding to the rearranged list to the first user equipment to enable reproduction of multimedia information from the first user's storage media in accordance with the rearranged list.