Remote Creation of a Playback Queue for a Future Event

1 . A method comprising:

receiving by a computing device an electronic invitation to add at least one media item to a playback queue of a media playback system, wherein the electronic invitation comprises a link to access information identifying a set of media items available for playback by the media playback system, and wherein the computing device and the media playback system are communicatively coupled via at least a wide area network (WAN);

causing by the computing device a graphical display to display the information identifying the set of media items available for playback by the media playback system; and

sending by the computing device selection data that indicates a selection of a particular media item from the set of media items to be added to the playback queue of the media playback system.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the WAN comprises a cellular network.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the electronic invitation further comprises a time element that indicates a time after which media items will not be available to be added to the playback queue.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the time element comprises a countdown timer, and wherein the media items will not be available to be added to the playback queue upon expiration of the countdown timer.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

sending by the computing device annotation data that indicates annotation information that is associated with the selection to be added to the playback queue.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the annotation data comprises one of message data and image data.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein causing by the computing device the graphical display to display the information identifying the set of media items comprises causing the graphical display to display via a web interface.

8 . The method claim 1 , wherein the selection of the media item comprises a selection of at least one of a media item title, an artist name, an album title, or a genre.

9 . A method comprising:

providing, by a computing system that is communicatively coupled to a media playback system via a WAN, a plurality of electronic invitations to a plurality of respective remote computing devices to add at least one media item to a playback queue of the media playback system, wherein each of the plurality of electronic invitations comprises a link to access information identifying one or more media items available for playback by the media playback system;

receiving by the computing system selection data that indicates one or more media item selections associated with one or more of the plurality of electronic invitations; and

populating by the computing system the playback queue based on the one or more media item selections indicated by the received selection data.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

providing by the computing system a playlist comprising information that identifies the media items in the playback queue.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

providing by the computing system annotation data that indicates annotation information that is associated with a particular media item identified in the playlist.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the annotation data comprises image data that indicates a photo associated with the particular media item.

13 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

before providing the plurality of invitations, receiving by the computing system from a given computing device instruction data that includes an instruction to provide the plurality of electronic invitations to the plurality of respective remote computing devices.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the given computing device is associated with the media playback system.

15 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

responsive to the expiration of a predefined amount of time, preventing by the computing system any future media item selections.

16 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

providing a media item to the media playback system for playback.

17 . A computing system comprising:

a network interface, wherein the network interface communicatively couples the computing system to a media playback system via a WAN;

a non-transitory computer readable medium; and

program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause the computing system to:

provide a plurality of electronic invitations to a plurality of respective remote computing devices to add at least one media item to a playback queue of the media playback system, wherein each of the plurality of electronic invitations comprises a link to access information identifying one or more media items available for playback by the media playback system;

receive selection data that indicates one or more media item selections associated with one or more of the plurality of electronic invitations; and

populate the playback queue based on the one or more media item selections indicated by the received selection data.

18 . The computing system of claim 17 , wherein the program instructions are executable by the at least one processor to further cause the computing system to:

provide a playlist comprising information that identifies the media items in the playback queue.

19 . The computing system of claim 17 , wherein the program instructions are executable by the at least one processor to further cause the computing system to:

provide annotation data that indicates annotation information that is associated with a particular media item identified in the playlist.

20 . The computing system of claim 17 , wherein the program instructions are executable by the at least one processor to further cause the computing system to:

responsive to the expiration of a predefined amount of time, prevent any future media item selections.