Distribution of music between members of a cluster of mobile audio devices and a wide area network

A method of operating a digital computing device associated with a sharing group, comprising:

• receiving a request to join the sharing group from a requesting media player device;
• making a determination as to whether to permit the requesting media player device to join the sharing group based on information associated with a user of the requesting media player device;
• and
• adding the requesting media player device to the sharing group if the determination is made to permit the requesting media player device to join the sharing group;
• wherein the information associated with the user of the requesting media player device comprises a rating of the user of the requesting media player device assigned to the user of the requesting media player device by at least one member of a previous sharing group of the user of the requesting media player device, and making the determination as to whether to permit the requesting media player device to join the sharing group comprises making the determination as to whether to permit the requesting media player device to join the sharing group based on the rating.

A method of operating a digital computing device associated with a sharing group, comprising:

• receiving a request to join the sharing group from a requesting media player device;
• making a determination as to whether to permit the requesting media player device to join the sharing group based on information associated with a user of the requesting media player device, the information associated with the user of the requesting media player device comprising information identifying the user of the requesting media player device and members of at least one previous sharing group of the user of the requesting media player device;
• and
• adding the requesting media player device to the sharing group if the determination is made to permit the requesting media player device to join the sharing group,
• wherein making the determination as to whether to permit the requesting media player device to join the sharing group comprises:
• comparing the information identifying the user of the requesting media player device and the members of the at least one previous sharing group to a stored list;
• and
• permitting the requesting media player device to join the sharing group if there is a sufficient number of matches between the stored list and the information identifying the user of the requesting media player device and the members of the at least one previous sharing group.

A method of operating a digital computing device associated with a sharing group, comprising:

• receiving a request to join the sharing group from a requesting media player device;
• making a determination as to whether to permit the requesting media player device to join the sharing group based on information associated with a user of the requesting media player device, the information associated with the user of the requesting media player device comprising information identifying the user of the requesting media player device and members of at least one previous sharing group of the user of the requesting media player device;
• and
• adding the requesting media player device to the sharing group if the determination is made to permit the requesting media player device to join the sharing group,
• wherein making the determination as to whether to permit the requesting media player device to join the sharing group comprises permitting the requesting media player device to join the sharing group if the user of the requesting media player device was previously in a sharing group with a trusted user.

A method of operating a digital computing device associated with a sharing group, comprising:

• receiving a request to join the sharing group from a requesting media player device;
• making a determination as to whether to permit the requesting media player device to join the sharing group based on information associated with a user of the requesting media player device;
• and
• adding the requesting media player device to the sharing group if the determination is made to permit the requesting media player device to join the sharing group;
• wherein the information associated with the user of the requesting media player device comprises information, made available by a trusted user, regarding a desirability of the user of the requesting media player device as a member of the sharing group.

A method of operating a digital computing device associated with a sharing group, comprising:

• receiving a request to join the sharing group from a requesting media player device;
• making a determination as to whether new members are permitted for the sharing group based on permissions set by a user of at least one member media player device in the sharing group;
• making a determination as to whether to permit the requesting media player device to join the sharing group based on information associated with a user of the requesting media player device;
• and
• adding the requesting media player device to the sharing group if new members are permitted for the sharing group and the determination is made to permit the requesting media player device to join the sharing group.