Digital media management apparatus and methods

A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a machine readable storage device, the computer program product comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

• receive a first input indicating that a user has dragged and dropped an icon representing a first metadata tag onto a graphical representation of a first digital media object, the first metadata tag having associated first metadata, the first digital media object being one of a plurality of digital media objects;
• retrieve, in response to the first input, the first metadata associated with the first metadata tag;
• identify, in a database, a first database record that is associated with the first digital media object and updating the first database record to include the retrieved first metadata, the database comprising a plurality of records, each associated with a respective one of the plurality of digital media objects;
• receive a second input indicating that the user has dragged and dropped the icon onto a graphic representation of a search function for the database;
• query the database for digital media objects associated with metadata that matches the first metadata associated with the first metadata tag represented by the icon;
• and
• display a representation of the digital media objects that are responsive to the database query.

A system comprising a computer having a memory containing instructions that when executed cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

• receiving a first input indicating that a user has dragged and dropped an icon representing a first metadata tag onto a graphical representation of a first digital media object, the first metadata tag having associated first metadata, the first digital media object being one of a plurality of digital media objects;
• retrieving, in response to the first input, the first metadata associated with the first metadata tag;
• identifying, in a database, a first database record that is associated with the first digital media object and updating the first database record to include the retrieved first metadata, the database comprising a plurality of records, each associated with a respective one of the plurality of digital media objects;
• receiving a second input indicating that the user has dragged and dropped the icon onto a graphic representation of a search function for the database;
• querying the database for digital media objects associated with metadata that matches the first metadata associated with the first metadata tag represented by the icon;
• and
• displaying a representation of the digital media objects that are responsive to the database query.