Content summary and segment creation

1. A method comprising:

receiving, via at least one processing unit, input indicative of a starting point for a segment of a content stream, the content stream segment being a further content stream that is to be created from the content stream via a graphical user interface while the content stream is selected for playback by a media player in the graphical user interface;

receiving, via the at least one processing unit, input indicative of an ending point for the content stream segment;

receiving, via the at least one processing unit and while the content stream is selected for playback, at least one content summary selection property, the at least one content summary selection property for use in determining whether to include the content stream segment in a summary of the content stream, the summary being a summary content stream for playback and comprising one or more content stream segments;

creating, via the at least one processing unit and while the content stream is selected for playback, the content stream segment using the starting point and the ending point; and

collecting, via the at least one processing unit, information as metadata to be associated with the content stream segment, the metadata comprising the at least one content summary selection property and including the starting point and the ending point of the content stream segment, wherein the at least one content summary selection property and one of the starting point and ending point are received via a single user interaction with an icon displayed in the graphical user interface of the media player's window.

2. The method of claim 1 , the receiving the at least one content summary selection property further comprising:

receiving the at least one content summary selection property as input via the icon displayed in the graphical user interface of the media player's window, the icon being selectable in the graphical user interface to associate the at least one content summary selection property represented by the icon with the content stream segment.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the icon comprises an acticon representing an action that occurs in the segment of content stream segment.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the icon comprises an acticon selectable to indicate a user reaction to the content stream.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one content summary selection property comprises a rating information.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one content summary selection property comprises a comment.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the content stream segment is one of a plurality of content stream segments having associated content summary selection properties, the method further comprising:

in response to receiving a request for a summary of the content stream:

selecting, by the at least one processing unit, the one or more content stream segments for inclusion in the summary of the content stream, the selecting comprising comparing information associated with the request with the content summary selection properties associated with the plurality of content stream segments to identify the one or more content stream segments; and

providing the identified one or more content stream segments.

8. The method of claim 7 , the providing the identified one or more content stream segments further comprising:

representing, by the at least one processing unit, the identified one or more content stream segments as a list for display at a user computing device, each entry in the list corresponding to one of the identified one or more content stream segments and having an indicia selectable to indicate a desire to include the corresponding content stream segment in the content stream summary.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

determining a content stream segment length for a content stream segment being considered for inclusion in the content stream summary, the content stream segment length being determined using the content stream segment's starting point and ending point;

using the content stream segment length, a current length of the content stream summary and a maximum length of the content stream summary to determine whether or not to select the content stream segment being considered for inclusion in the content stream summary.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the starting point and the ending point is set by input received from the user.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the starting point and the ending point is determined from the content stream.

12. A user interface displayed via a computing device, said user interface comprising:

a media player portion to playback, via the computing device, a content stream summary, the content stream summary comprising one or more content stream segments of the content stream, each content stream segment being a further content stream created from the content stream, wherein the media player portion displays at least one icon to receive, via a single user interaction with the at least one icon, at least one content summary selection property and one of a starting point and ending point of the content stream segment;

a content stream segment portion to display, via the computing device, information associated with one of the one or more content stream segments of the content stream summary;

a content search portion comprising a search input section and a search results display portion, the search input section for entering search criteria to search, via the computing device, a content store for the content stream using the search criteria, and the search results display portion for displaying, via the computing device, results of the search; and

a content segment list portion to display, via the computing device, one or more entries, each entry corresponding to one of the one or more content stream segments of the content stream in the content stream summary, each entry having at least one selection indicator selectable by a user to indicate whether or not to include the corresponding content stream segment in the content stream summary.

13. The user interface of claim 12 , wherein at least one of the content segment portion and the content segment list portion comprising a ratings section to display a content segment rating.

14. The user interface of claim 12 , wherein the at least one icon comprises an icon representing an action that occurs in a content stream segment of the one or more the content segments, the icon appearing in the user interface while the content stream segment is being played back to associate the action represented by the icon with the content stream segment being played back via the media player portion.

15. The user interface of claim 12 , wherein the at least one icon comprises an icon displayed in the user interface and is selectable to indicate a user reaction to the content stream being played back via the media player portion.

16. A computer-readable medium tangibly storing thereon computer-executable process steps, the process steps comprising:

receiving input indicative of a starting point for a segment of a content stream, the content stream segment, the content stream segment being a further content stream that is to be created from the content stream via a graphic user interface while the content stream is selected for playback by a media player in the graphical user interface;

receiving input indicative of an ending point for the content stream segment;

receiving, while the content stream is selected for playback, at least one content summary selection property, the at least one content summary selection property being for use in determining whether to include the content stream segment in a summary of the content stream, the summary being a summary content stream for playback and comprising one or more content stream segments;

creating, while the content stream is selected for playback, the content stream segment using the starting point and the ending point; and

collecting information as metadata to be associated with the content stream segment, the metadata comprising the at least one content summary selection property and including the starting point and the ending point of the content stream segment, wherein the at least one content summary selection property and one of the starting point and ending point are received via a single user interaction with an icon displayed in the graphical user interface of the media player's window.

17. The medium of claim 16 , the process step of receiving the at least one content summary selection property further comprising:

receiving the at least one content summary selection property as input via the icon displayed in the graphical user interface of the media player's window, the icon being selectable in the graphical user interface to associate the at least one content summary selection property represented by the icon with the content stream segment.

18. The medium of claim 17 , wherein the icon comprises an acticon representing an action that occurs in the content stream segment.

19. The medium of claim 17 , wherein the icon comprises an acticon selectable to indicate a user reaction to the content stream.

20. The medium of claim 16 , wherein the at least one content summary selection property comprises a rating information.

21. The medium of claim 16 , wherein the at least one content summary selection property comprises a comment.

22. The medium of claim 16 , wherein the content stream segment is one of a plurality of content stream segments having associated content summary selection properties, the process steps further comprising:

in response to receiving a request for a summary of the content stream:

selecting, the one or more content stream segments for inclusion in the summary of the content stream, the selecting comprising comparing information associated with the request with the content summary selection properties associated with the plurality of content segments to identify the one or more content stream segments; and

providing the identified content stream segments.

23. The medium of claim 22 , the process step of providing the identified one or more content stream segments further comprising process steps of:

representing the identified one or more content segments as a list for display at a user computing device, each entry in the list corresponding to one of the identified one or more content stream segments and having anindicia selectable by the user to indicating a desire to include the corresponding content stream segment in the content stream summary.

24. The medium of claim 22 , further comprising process steps of:

determining a content segment length for a content stream segment being considered for inclusion in the content stream summary, the content stream segment length being determined using the content stream segment's starting point and ending point;

using the content segment length, a current length of the content stream summary and a maximum length of the content stream summary to determine whether or not to select the content stream segment being considered for inclusion in the content stream summary.

25. The medium of claim 16 , wherein at least one of the starting point and the ending point is set by input received from the user.

26. The medium of claim 16 , wherein at least one of the starting point and the ending point is determined from the content stream.

27. A system comprising:

at least one computing device having a processing unit configured to:

receive input indicative of a starting point for a segment of a content stream, the content stream segment, the content stream segment being a further content stream that is to be created from the content stream via a graphical user interface while the content stream is selected for playback by a media player in the graphical user interface;

receive input indicative of an ending point for the content stream segment;

receive, while the content stream is selected for playback, at least one content summary selection property, the at least one content summary selection property being for use in determining whether to include the content stream segment in a summary of the content stream, the summary being a summary of the content stream for playback and comprising one or more content stream segments;

create, while the content stream is selected for playback the content stream segment using the starting point and the ending point; and

collect information as metadata to be associated with the content stream segment, the metadata comprising at least one content summary selection property and including the starting point and the ending point of the content stream segment, wherein the at least one content summary selection property and one of the starting point and ending point are received via a single user interaction with an icon displayed in the graphical user interface of the media player's window.

28. The system of claim 27 , the at least one computing device configured to receive the at least one content summary selection property is further configured to:

receive the at least one content summary selection property as input via the icon displayed in a graphical user interface of the media player's window, the icon being selectable in the graphical user interface to associate the at least one content summary segment.

29. The system of claim 28 , wherein the icon comprises an acticon representing an action that occurs in the content stream segment.

30. The system of claim 28 , wherein the icon comprises an acticon selectable to indicate a user reaction to the content stream.

31. The system of claim 27 , wherein the at least one content summary selection property comprises rating information.

32. The system of claim 27 , wherein the at least one content summary selection property comprises a comment.

33. The system of claim 27 , wherein the content stream segment is one of a plurality of content stream segments having associated content summary selection properties, the at least one computing device is further configured to:

in response to receiving a request for a summary of the content stream:

select the one or more of the content stream segments for inclusion in the summary of the content stream, the selecting comprising comparing information associated with the request with the content summary selection properties associated with the plurality of content stream segments to identify the one or more content stream segments; and

provide the identified one or more content stream segments.

34. The system of claim 33 , the at least one computing device configured to provided the identified content segments is further configured to:

represent the identified one or more content stream segments as a list for display at a user computing device, each entry in the list corresponding to one of the identified one or more content stream segments and having an indicia selectable to indicate a desire to include the corresponding content stream segment in the content stream summary.

35. The system of claim 33 , the at least one computing device is further configured to:

determine a content stream segment length for a content segment being considered for inclusion in the content summary, the content stream segment length being determined using the content stream segment's starting point and ending point;

use the content segment length, a current length of the content stream summary and a maximum length of the content stream summary to determine whether or not to select the content stream segment being considered for inclusion in the content stream summary.

36. The system of claim 27 , wherein at least one of the starting point and the ending point is set by input received from the user.

37. The system of claim 27 , wherein at least one of the starting point and the ending point is determined from the content stream.