One aspect of the present invention relates to an information appliance for handling streaming information for storage in a circular buffer having a plurality of partitions defined by boundaries. The information appliance includes receiving streaming information from a source of streaming information and forming data blocks wherein each data block includes a payload field capable of holding a portion of the streaming information and an identification field indicative of the source of the streaming information. At least one data block is written to the circular buffer to partially fill a partition and at least one padding block is generated having a field indicative of non-streaming information and having a size being a function of remaining space in the partition. The padding block is written to the circular buffer adjacent a boundary of the partition.