Free Software, Free Society: selected essays of Richard M. Stallman. 2nd edition.

1. A method for enabling a remote user to preview a portion of a prerecorded music product from a network web site containing pre-selected portions of different pre-recorded music products, using a computer, a computer display and a telecommunications link between the remote user’s computer and the network web site, the method comprising the steps of:

• using the remote user’s computer to establish a telecommunications link to the network web site wherein the network web site comprises (i) a central host server coupled to a communications network for retrieving and transmitting the pre-selected portion of the pre-recorded music product upon request by a remote user and (ii) a central storage device for storing pre-selected portions of a plurality of different pre-recorded music products;

• transmitting user identification data from the remote user’s computer to the central host server thereby allowing the central host server to identify and track the user’s progress through the network web site;

• choosing at least one pre-selected portion of the pre-recorded music products from the central host server;

• receiving the chosen pre-selected portion of the pre-recorded products; and

• interactively previewing the received chosen pre-selected portion of the pre-recorded music product.

That sure looks like a complex system, right? Surely it took a real clever guy to think of this? No, but it took cleverness to make it seem so complex. Let’s analyze where the complexity comes from:

1. A method for enabling a remote user to preview a portion of a prerecorded music product from a network web site containing pre-selected portions

That states the principal part of their idea. They put selections from certain pieces of music on a server so a user can listen to them.

of different pre-recorded music products,

This emphasizes their server stores selections from more than one piece of music.

It is a basic principle of computer science is that if a computer can do a thing once, it can do that thing many times, on different data each time. Many patents pretend that applying this principle to a specific case makes an “invention.”

using a computer, a computer display and a telecommunications link between the remote user’s computer and the network web site,

This says they are using a server on a network.

the method comprising the steps of:

• using the remote user’s computer to establish a telecommunications link to the network web site

This says that the user connects to the server over the network. (That’s the way one uses a server.)

wherein the network web site comprises (i) a central host server coupled to a communications network

This informs us that the server is on the net. (That is typical of servers.)

for retrieving and transmitting the pre-selected portion of the pre-recorded music product upon request by a remote user

This repeats the general idea stated in the first two lines.