A universal media player designed to improve a user's online media
experience that is preferably embedded in an Internet browser is
disclosed. The universal media player allows a user to navigate between
different sources of media without requiring the downloading of the media
player associated with the format of the media source. The universal
media player includes an interface with user-actuable control buttons,
the universal media player determining whether incoming media is playable
by the universal media player. If the incoming media is playable by the
universal media player, the media is intercepted as the media is
downloaded and redirected to the universal media player. Determining if
the media is playable is accomplished by identifying the type of incoming
media and searching a table of MIME media types.
