Aggregating media collections to provide a primary list and sorted sub-lists

A user device comprising:

• a) a communication interface communicatively coupling the user device to a network;
• and
• b) a control system, associated with the communication interface, adapted to:
• i) discover a plurality of shared media collections made available to a first user of the user device by a plurality of second users of a plurality of second user devices;
• ii) process media collection information identifying media items in a local media collection and media collection information identifying media items in one or more shared media collections from the plurality of shared media collections to provide an aggregate media collection of the first user at the user device, the aggregate media collection comprising:
• a primary list including a media item entry for each unique media item in the local media collection and the one or more shared media collections;
• and
• a sub-list for each media item entry in the primary list, the sub-list comprising a media item entry for each occurrence of the corresponding unique media item in the local media collection and the one or more shared media collections;
• iii) for each sub-list, score each media item entry in the sub-list based on at least one criterion;
• iv) for each sub-list, select a media item entry from the sub-list for use in the primary list based on scores assigned to the media item entries in the sub-list as a result of the scoring;
• and
• v) enable the first user to utilize the aggregate media collection at the user device.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing software adapted to instruct a control system of a user device to:

• discover a plurality of shared media collections made available to a first user of the user device by a plurality of second users of a plurality of second user devices;
• process media collection information identifying media items in a local media collection and media collection information identifying media items in one or more shared media collections from the plurality of shared media collections to provide an aggregate media collection of the first user at the user device, the aggregate media collection comprising:
• a primary list including a media item entry for each unique media item in the local media collection and the one or more shared media collections;
• and
• a sub-list for each media item entry in the primary list, the sub-list comprising a media item entry for each occurrence of the corresponding unique media item in the local media collection and the one or more shared media collections;
• for each sub-list, score each media item entry in the sub-list based on at least one criterion;
• for each sub-list, select a media item entry from the sub-list for use in the primary list based on scores assigned to the media item entries in the sub-list as a result of the scoring;
• and
• enable the first user to utilize the aggregate media collection at the user device.