JP2002074911A - Audio player - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve such a problem relating to audio player that the difficulty in selecting a desired music to be reproduced arises when many musics are recorded on a recording medium in an MP3 system. SOLUTION: When audio data are recorded on a recording medium such as a CD in an MP3 system, music featured portions such as 'chastened voice', 'introduction' and 'lyrics repeating portions' of a music are beforehand recorded in ID3 tag data. When a player 2 reproduces the data, specific items among the data are reproduced and a retrieved information list 13 including the music featured portions is generated. Then, the items are rearranged in the order of artists in accordance with the item rearranging instruction made by a user and stored in a memory. Then, representative musics are selected from the musics in each group, the featured section of the musics are read, the player reproduces the music featured section of the representative musics in the order of groups such as artist's groups. When the user recognizes the musics of a desired group, the user specifies and inputs the reproducing of the musics of the group.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an audio player for reproducing audio data or the like compressed in the MP3 format, and more particularly, to an audio player in which a large number of music pieces are stored in a single disk after being compressed in the MP3 format or the like. The present invention relates to an audio player capable of easily selecting and reproducing a desired artist or a desired genre of music from data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In personal computers, video devices such as DVDs, and various audio devices, a large amount of video data and audio data are stored in a small recording medium.
Further, in order to transmit a large amount of such data in a short time, the data is compressed and used by various data compression techniques. MPEG is widely used as an international standard for such data compression. In particular, MP3 [Mov
ing PictureExperts Group
(MPEG) Audio Layer-3] has been used. In addition, MPEG Audio
Layer-3 includes MPEG-1.0 Audio
Layer-3, MPEG-2.0 Audio Layer
er-3, MPEG-2.5 Audio Layer
-3, etc., which are mainly present, and hereinafter are collectively abbreviated as MP3.

[0003] In this MP3, audio data can be compressed to approximately one-tenth of a CD with almost the same quality as a CD, so that approximately 11 times as much audio data as a CD that can store 650 MB can be recorded. Therefore, in the case of a normal song, it is possible to record about 150 songs on a single CD, and a CD-R or CD
Individuals use the RW to combine a large number of CD songs into a single CD and play it on an MP3-compatible CD player. When such an audio recording medium is used, there is no need to carry a plurality of CDs or the like, and for example, a CD disc changer is not required as a vehicle audio player.

[0004] Also, without using a disk such as a CD, audio data is compressed and recorded in MP3 format using a memory made of a semiconductor chip, which has rapidly become large and inexpensive in recent years. One C
Players that can record all songs of D and can handle very small and large-capacity audio data have been developed.

[0005] In particular, an MP3 player can record audio data in a one-chip memory, so it is a player having no moving parts and is light in weight. Therefore, the MP3 player is most suitable as a portable audio player, and performs various exercises. It is convenient because it can be used as it is. In addition, there will be no sound skipping even if there is a sudden large shock or continuous vibration for a long period of time, and there are few failure parts and excellent environmental resistance. It is expected to be widely used as a player.

[0006]

In such an audio player capable of reproducing audio data compressed in the MP3 format, for example, when a CD-size disc is used, when one song is about four minutes long, About 4
Since it can be recorded in MB, the usual song is 150
The songs can be recorded. CD-R and CD-RW
Each person records a large number of songs on the disc using
When this disc is played on an MP3-compatible CD player, the audio player plays back the songs found by the player in order, and usually plays the songs in the order in which the songs were recorded on the CD.
Also, playing the songs in the same order always gets tired,
There is also an audio player compatible with MP3 that can be played at random.

[0007] However, when each individual records a large number of songs on one CD as described above, songs of many artists are recorded in the CD, and songs of various genres are recorded. It may be done. Moreover, when each individual records a large number of songs as described above on a CD in the MP3 format, it is often impossible to systematically record on a CD by artist or genre. It is troublesome to collect only appropriate artists or collect and record only songs of the same genre. Therefore, if the current audio player plays in the order found by the player as described above,
In many cases, it is not possible to reproduce only songs of the same artist or to reproduce only songs of the same genre. In addition, it is difficult to reproduce the music by intensively listening to the music of the same artist according to the situation at that time and listening to only the music of the same genre at another time, which is inconvenient for the user.

[0008] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, when playing back a song using an audio recording medium such as a disc on which a large number of songs are recorded, the recorded songs are sorted by artist or genre and displayed. However, development of software that allows a user to refer to this and select a desired one is in progress. According to this, the user will be able to select from the list displayed on the display sorted by artist and genre, and because the display area of the display is limited, the user can not see the whole, so the display You need to scroll the screen to see what kind of artist's song or what kind of song is included.

In addition, there are cases where it is not possible to remember what the artists and genres displayed in such a sort were actually. In the case of a disc recorded by a person other than yourself, there is a further problem. It will be difficult to understand. Also, especially when recording songs from foreign artists, there are many unfamiliar songs, so just looking at the artist or genre does not give any clue what kind of song was recorded Sometimes.

When the audio player is mounted on a vehicle and the user is a driver, scroll the screen as described above to find out what kind of artist's music is recorded. Alternatively, it is not possible to see in detail what kind of genre is included, etc. For drivers who are paying more attention to safe driving, seeing such a list will immediately see what kind of song it was Was difficult to remember, and some measures were required.

Such a problem is not limited to the reproduction of the audio data compressed and recorded in the MP3 format as described above, but the same problem occurs in the case of the audio data compressed and recorded in various formats. 1 without data compression
The same problem occurs when a large number of music pieces are recorded on one recording medium.

Therefore, according to the present invention, in an audio player for reproducing an audio recording medium on which a large number of songs are recorded, the recorded songs are grouped and, for example, songs of the same artist or the same genre are selected and listened to. In this case, it is a main object to provide an audio player in which the artist or genre can be easily known and a specific group can be easily selected.

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a recorded music information search section for searching a data portion in which information of music recorded on an audio recording medium is recorded, A search information list creation unit that lists and retrieves the recorded song information and stores it; a sort list creation unit that sorts and stores the search information list by group for a specified specific item; A playback group designating unit for selecting a specific group from a list for each of the groups, and an audio playback unit for playing songs in the designated playback group. Search for information indicating the data recording position where the characteristic portion of each song is recorded, and the audio playback unit searches the information in the rearrangement list. Kicking selected a representative songs of each group,
The information including the position where the characteristic portion of the song is recorded is read, and the characteristic portion of the song on the recording medium is reproduced. The reproduction group designating portion corresponds to the reproduction of the characteristic portion of the song by the audio reproducing portion. The audio player is characterized by designating a group desired to be reproduced.

In another aspect, the music recorded on the audio recording medium is recorded in the MP3 format, and the data portion in which the information on the characteristic portion of the recorded music is recorded is an ID3 tag. A part of the audio player.

[0015] In another aspect, the items to be rearranged for each group are artists, genres, or albums.

In another aspect, the audio player is characterized in that the characteristic part of the music is a part specified by a user, a part where lyrics are repeated, or a head of the music. is there.

In another aspect, the representative song of the group is the first song in the list, the earliest song released, or the song that has been previously listened to by this player. The above-mentioned audio player.

In another aspect, the audio player is characterized in that the list is displayed on a display.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an audio player for reproducing a recording medium on which a large number of songs are recorded in the MP3 format according to the present invention. In particular, a functional portion which creates a list of recorded songs and enables reproduction by an arbitrary method. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram mainly showing the functional blocks shown and showing the interrelationship between the functional blocks.

In the same figure, as in the conventional case, the CD-R and C
A CD 1 created by compressing and recording audio data in an MP3 format by D-RW is applied to a player 2, rotated by a motor 3, and recorded by an optical pickup 4 moving on an axis in a radial direction of the disk. The RF data is read. The motor 3 and the optical pickup 4 are controlled by a servo driver 10 for inputting a signal of a system controller 11 for controlling the entire audio disc player, and start and stop of reproduction, and various data of an arbitrary portion of the CD 1 are recorded. Reading or the like can be performed.

A signal from the optical pickup 4 is amplified by an RF amplifier 5 and data of an ID3 tag portion in which information such as an artist name, a genre number, and music feature portion information of a recorded music is recorded from the MP3 data. 7 and the audio data 8 can be separated and decoded.
Input to the P3 system decoder 6. The operation of the MP3 system decoder 6 is controlled by a system controller 11, and the decoded audio data 8
Are output from the audio signal output unit 11 in the same manner as in the conventional device, subjected to various signal processing in the same manner as in the prior art, and output from a speaker (not shown).

In the MP3 data, an ID3 tag is recorded in the last 128 bytes of the file of each song, and its data format is configured as shown in FIG. That is, in the first three bytes of the tag portion, a character “TAG” indicating that this portion is a tag is fixedly recorded. The next 30 bytes are TRACK NAM
E, that is, a portion for recording a track name, in which a title name as the name of the music is recorded. The next 30 bytes are used as an AIRTIST NAME, that is, a part for recording the artist name, and the next 30 bytes are used for A
LUBM NAME, that is, a part for recording the album name. The next 4 bytes are YEAR, that is, a portion for recording the year when this song was released.

The next 30 bytes are a comment, that is, a portion for recording an arbitrary comment, and free data can be recorded in this portion. In the present invention, audio data portions, such as a portion called a "chorus", an intro portion as a start portion of a song, and a portion where the same lyrics are repeatedly played in the song, which are features of each song, are input. It is a part for recording the pack number etc. Therefore, the audio player can read the data of this portion to know the pack number or the like in which the characteristic portion of the song is recorded, and can play the characteristic portion of each song by designating the number. It becomes possible.

Finally, it is a GENRE in which the correspondence between the number and the genre name is clarified in advance, that is, the genre number can be recorded. As shown in FIG. 4, for example, the genre number and the genre are determined in advance.
5 is assigned a name unique to Japan.

By using the ID3 tag information as described above, in the apparatus of the present invention, the system controller 11 issues a command to the ID3 tag data search unit 12 to perform a search at the start of reproduction of the CD1, and a search information list 13
And a squirrel as shown below. Note that the ID3 tag corresponds to recorded music information in the present invention, and the ID3 data search unit 12 for searching the ID3 tag corresponds to a recorded music information search unit in the present invention.

An example of this list is partially shown in FIG. 1 and its details are shown in FIG. 5. In this example, among the various data of the ID3 tag, in particular, the title name, artist name, genre name, For each item of the characteristic part information of the song and the music, the No. A list is formed from the number one. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the title is "Emotions",
The artist name is "Mriah Carry", the genre name is "Pops", and the characteristic portion of the song as described above is included in the seventh to thirteenth packs. Similarly, the second and subsequent lists are listed, indicating that the music shown in the figure has been searched.

In the illustrated embodiment, an example is shown in which all the characteristic parts of the music are recorded in the seventh to thirteenth packs.
This is because, when converting into audio data and recording, the audio data specified as the characteristic portion of the music is specified to be recorded from the seventh pack to the thirteenth pack. It can be recorded in a pack or the like, and at that time, the pack number or the like is recorded in the characteristic portion of the music.

The system controller 11 generates the search information list or, if there is an instruction from the user to sort this list in advance by, for example, the same artist, or instructs to sort the list by the same genre. When there is a designation of the sorting by item from the sorting ordering unit 14 by item, for example, the instruction is output to the sorting list creating unit 15 by item, and the designation is made by the user. Are sorted and stored in the sorted list memory 16 for each item. The same memory can be used as the item-specific rearrangement list memory 16 by rewriting the memory storing the search information list 13. The list recorded in the item-specific rearrangement list memory 16 can be displayed on a display as needed to assist the user in selecting a particular artist or genre. Further, if necessary, it is also possible to sort various items based on various other data included in the ID3 tag data, such as an album name, to group the songs.

As described above, when there is a designation from the item-specific rearrangement specification section 14 to perform the rearrangement by, for example, the artist name, the rearrangement is performed as in the list shown in FIG. As a result of rearranging the items by the artist name as described above, the artists are divided into groups, and in the example shown in the figure, the artists having a large number of songs are listed first. as a result,
In this example, the artist is "Mriah Carry"
Is listed first, and three songs by this artist are collected here. "Goo Goo
"Dolls" group has two songs, "Ace Of Ba"
"ce" group, two songs are grouped and collected. In this example, for simplicity of explanation, an example in which only seven pieces of music are present on the recording medium is shown.
R or CD-RW may contain more than 100 songs, in which case all of them are grouped by artist based on the designated items.

In the above embodiment, the user has instructed to perform the sorting by artist, but when the sorting is specified by genre, a list as shown in FIG. 7 is created. In this example, "Pops""R
The songs are divided into groups such as “ock” and “R & B”, and the songs shown in each group are collected.

Based on the data in the item-specific rearrangement list memory 16, the in-group representative music selection section 17 selects a representative music from each group. At this time, unless otherwise specified in advance by the user or the like, the first music piece among the music pieces in the group listed here can be mechanically selected. At that time, when the items are sorted by the artist item in FIG. 6, "Mriah" is displayed as shown in FIG.
Carry's group is "Emotion
s "and" Goo Good Dolls "
The song "Slide" was selected in the group of "
e Of Base "group," Life Is
Flow ”is selected.

When rearranged by the category of the genre in FIG. 7, in the group of “Pops”, “Mr
The song "Emotions" of "Iah Carry" was selected, and "Goo" was selected in the group of "Rock".
The song "Slide" of "Good Dolls" was selected, and in the group of "R &B","Mriah C
The song "My All" of the "arry" is selected.

When selecting a representative song in the group representative song selecting section 17 based on the itemized rearrangement list in which the grouping has been performed as described above, the representative song is listed first in each group as described above. In addition to mechanically selecting the played song as a representative song, for example, the newest song of each song released in the month and year, or the song that has been recorded before when the player has memory, For example, a representative song can be selected in various modes. At this time, a plurality of representative songs are selected without necessarily setting only one representative song in each group, for example, when it is difficult to know what songs are included in the group with only one song. You may be able to do so.

For the representative tune selected in this way, the tune characteristic information reading unit 18 reads the tune characteristic information of each tune recorded in the item-specific rearrangement list memory 16 and stores the data in the tune characteristic unit. Output to the reproduction instruction unit 19. The song characteristic portion reproduction instructing portion 19 instructs the system controller 11 to record the song characteristic portion information of each representative song, that is, for each representative song, a portion corresponding to the "chorus" of the song, a portion that is repeatedly played, or the first song The position of a pack number or the like at which a preset characteristic portion such as a portion is recorded is designated.

Here, when selecting the characteristic portion of each music, when the user re-records the CD on a CD-RW or the like in MP3 format data, when the characteristic portion of each music is played,
It can be specified by performing a key input indicating the range. However, when it is troublesome to perform such an operation for all songs, it can be mechanically set as a predetermined time portion at the beginning of the song, ie, an intro portion, or it is detected that the song has a repeated portion of the same lyrics. Thereby, that part can be automatically designated as a characteristic part of the music.

The system controller 11 outputs a control signal to the servo driver 10 of the player 2 in accordance with the instruction, and reproduces a specified music feature portion of the specified music. As a result, the music characteristic portion of the music specified from the CD 1 is reproduced and output from the speaker via the audio output unit 9. The audio output here is the representative song of each group sorted by each item, and it is also a characteristic part. By listening to this, the user can find out what songs are included in that group. Can be easily estimated.

If the user instructs the reproduction group designating section 20 to reproduce the music of the group before the reproduction of one group ends, the user can reproduce the music of the group. After determining that the music is desired, the reproduction of the music feature portion of the representative music in each group is terminated, and the music of the group desired by the user is reproduced from the beginning to the end of each music in order.

As described above, the system controller 11
Performs the reproduction of the characteristic portion of the representative song of one group, when the reproduction of the characteristic portion of the song ends, and when the user has not specified that the reproduction of the group is desired, the representative portion of the next group is reproduced. Play the music feature. By performing such an operation for each group in order, a reproduction group desired by the user is specified, and the reproduction of the music of the specified group is started from the beginning to the end of the music in order in the same manner as described above.

In addition to the above-described input of the reproduction group designating section 20, the system controller 11 displays a search information list 13 on the display, for example, when only a small number of songs are included in the disc to be reproduced. In the displayed state, a playback music designation unit that can manually select an arbitrary music may be provided.

In the audio player constituted by the functional blocks as described above, in particular, a large number of songs recorded on a CD are divided into groups with respect to arbitrary items, and the characteristic portions of the representative songs in the group are reproduced and listened to. The function of selecting a desired group by the user can be sequentially activated, for example, by an operation flow as shown in FIG. Hereinafter, this operation flow will be described with reference to the functional block diagram of FIG. 1 and an example of the search information list.

In the reproduction group selection process by reproducing the characteristic portion of the music according to the present invention, the player 2 shown in FIG.
The tag data is separated, and ID3 tag data for a necessary item is searched from the separated data (step S1).
A search information list is created based on the data (step S2). The data read from the ID3 tag includes, for example, “title”, “artist”, “genre”, and “song feature information” as shown as items in the search information list 13 in FIG. The data of each item such as the album name and the year and month when the song was released are selected and read.

Next, a list is created which is grouped by designated items designated by the user in advance (step S3). This is because the item-specific rearrangement list creating unit 15 in FIG.
This is performed by creating a list in response to an instruction from the user from the item-specific rearrangement designation unit 14, and the data is stored in the item-specific rearrangement list memory 16. Thus, when the user designates, for example, an artist item, a grouped list is created as shown in FIG. 6, and when a user designates a genre item, a grouped list is created as shown in FIG.

Next, in the itemized rearrangement list created in this way, a representative song in each group is selected from among the groups (step S).
4). This is the representative song selection unit 17 in the group shown in FIG.
It is performed in. When selecting a representative song, the first song listed in each group can be mechanically selected as described above, and the representative song can be set based on any criteria such as the date and time when the song was released. Can also.

Thereafter, for the representative tune selected as described above, the tune characteristic portion information of the tune is read (step S5). This operation is performed in the music feature information reading unit 18 in FIG. Next, based on the information thus read, the characteristic portions of the representative songs are reproduced in group order (step S6). Next, it is determined whether or not a user inputs a key for designating a reproduction group during reproduction of the music characteristic portion. This determination is made based on whether or not the user has performed designation input by operating a key or the like from the reproduction group designation unit 20 in FIG.

As a result of the determination, if it is determined that the key input has not been made yet, the process returns to step S6.
And the operation of reproducing the characteristic portion of the representative music in the order of the group is continued. If the key input is made by the user in the middle, the group including the song being played at the time of input is determined to be the group that the user wants to play, and the play group is determined. Then, an instruction to reproduce all the songs in the group is issued. At the time of the reproduction, the songs in the group stored in the item-specific rearrangement list memory 16 are reproduced in order.

Although the audio player of the present invention is constructed and operates as described above, it can be embodied in various forms other than the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, a storage medium for MP3 data As an example, a CD is used, but a disk-type recording medium such as a DVD, a hard disk, and an MD can be used, and various other recording media such as a one-chip memory-type recording medium can be used. You can also. The same applies to the reproduction of data recorded in a compression format other than the MP3 format, or the creation of an audio data recording medium on which a large number of songs are recorded without special compression, and the reproduction thereof. The same effect can be obtained.

[0047]

The present invention is configured as described above.
A recorded music information search unit for searching a data portion in which information of music recorded on the recording medium is recorded from an audio recording medium; a search information list creating unit for listing and recording the searched recorded music information; A sorting list creating unit for sorting and storing the information list for each specified specified item by group, and a playback group specifying unit for selecting a specific group from the sorted list for each group; An audio playback unit that plays back songs in the playback group, wherein the recorded song information search unit retrieves information indicating a data recording position where a characteristic portion of each song is recorded in a recording medium. The search and audio playback unit selects a representative song for each group in the rearrangement list, and the characteristic portion of the song is recorded. The information including the position is read, and the characteristic portion of the song on the recording medium is reproduced. The reproduction group designation portion designates a group desired to be reproduced in accordance with the reproduction of the characteristic portion of the song by the audio reproduction portion. In an audio player characterized by the following, in an audio player that plays back an audio recording medium containing a large number of songs, the recorded songs are divided into groups, for example, songs of the same artist or the same genre. At the time of selection and listening, it is possible to easily know the group of the artist or genre by listening to the characteristic portion of the music, and it is possible to easily select a specific group and give a reproduction instruction. Further, when used as a vehicle audio player, the driver can easily and safely select a group desired to be reproduced without being deprived of much attention particularly in music selection.

In another aspect, the music recorded on the audio recording medium is recorded in the MP3 format, and the data portion in which the information on the characteristic portion of the recorded music is recorded is an ID3 tag. In the audio player, the recording medium for recording audio data in the MP3 format capable of recording at a high compression rate can record an extremely large number of songs. It is difficult to select a desired group from among them, but in the present invention, since the characteristic part of the music in the representative music of each group is automatically reproduced, the user can listen to this to select which group. You can easily select whether to watch or listen.

As another aspect, in the audio player wherein the items to be rearranged by the group are artists, genres, or albums, a desired reproduction group can be selected from a large number of songs. At the time of selection, a proper item can be selected from the grouped songs, and the group can be selected according to the user's wish.

In another aspect, the audio player is characterized in that the characteristic part of the music is a part designated by a user, a part where lyrics are repeated, or a head of the music. For example, if the feature of the song is set to the part specified by the user, the exact part set by the user can be recorded as the feature of the song, and the lyrics of the song can be recorded as the feature of the song. In the case of a repeated portion, the portion where the lyrics are repeated is generally a portion that the user knows well about the song, so that the user can easily know the group to which the song belongs, and Since the part is also a part that can be automatically detected by the player, it is also possible to automatically designate the feature of the music. Furthermore, when the feature of a song is the beginning of the song, the beginning of the song is generally an intro part that the user often knows, so the user can easily identify the group to which the song belongs. It can be known and the player can automatically designate this part as a feature of the song.

In another aspect, the representative song of the group is the first song in the list, the earliest song released, or the song that has been previously heard by this player. In the case of the audio player, for example, if the first song in the list is the representative song of the group, the representative song of the group can be easily determined mechanically, and simple software can be used for high-speed playback. You can select a representative song. In addition, if the representative song of the group is the earliest song released, the user can select a fresh song as the representative song, and the user can easily understand the group to which the song belongs. Can be.

In another aspect, the audio player is characterized in that the list is displayed on a display. In the audio player, a search information list created first or a list grouped by designated items is provided. Can be displayed on the display, and when the user can see the display, the situation of the entire grouping and the like can be easily understood.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of an audio player for reproducing a recording medium compressed in the MP3 format according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of a reproduction group selection process by reproducing a characteristic portion of a music piece in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows ID3 in audio data in MP3 format.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a partial data configuration of a tag.

FIG. 4 is a comparison table of genre numbers and genre names recorded in ID3 tags.

FIG. 5 is a table showing an example of a search information list based on information obtained by searching ID3 tag data in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an example of a list obtained by rearranging a search information list by artist items in the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an example of a list obtained by rearranging a search information list by genre items in the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a state of each list divided into groups based on a list sorted by artist items in the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 CD 2 player 6 MP3 system decoder 10 servo driver 11 system controller 12 ID3 tag data search unit 13 search information list 14 sort list by item 15 sort list creating unit 16 item sort list memory 17 representative song in group Selection unit 18 Song feature information reading unit 19 Song feature playback instruction unit 20 Play group designation unit

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A recorded music information search section for searching a data portion in which information on music recorded on an audio recording medium is recorded from an audio recording medium, and creating a search information list for listing and recording the searched recorded music information. A sort list creating unit that sorts and memorizes the search information list for each of specified specified items for each group; and a reproduction group designation for selecting a specific group from the sorted list for each group. And an audio playback unit that plays back songs in a specified playback group. The recorded music information search unit includes a data recording unit that records a characteristic portion of each song in a recording medium. The information indicating the position is searched, and the audio reproducing unit selects a representative song for each group in the rearrangement list, and selects the characteristic of the song. The information including the position where the part is recorded is read, and the characteristic part of the music on the recording medium is reproduced. The reproduction group designation part desires reproduction in response to the reproduction of the characteristic part of the music by the audio reproduction part. An audio player characterized by specifying a group. 2. The music recorded on the audio recording medium is recorded in an MP3 format, and a data part recording information on a characteristic part of the recorded music is an ID3 tag part. Claim 1 characterized by the following:
An audio player as described. 3. The audio player according to claim 1, wherein the items sorted by group are an artist, a genre, or an album. 4. The audio player according to claim 1, wherein the characteristic part of the music is a part designated by a user, a part where lyrics are repeated, or a head of the music. 5. The representative tune of the group is a first tune in a list, an earliest tune released, or a tune that has been previously heard by this player. Audio player. 6. The audio player according to claim 1, wherein the list is displayed on a display.