Although, at the time, it may not have *seemed* so obvious...
That said, this *might* cripple Microsoft's Zune further. Not that it needs help to be crippled.
All it takes to invalidate a patent is to demonstrate "prior art" which is evidence that the same thing was either already being done or even described in literature.
As I pointed out, I downloaded music files in the early 1990s... both .WAV files and MIDI files... which would have been essentially the same as the idea of downloading these player piano instructions. That is prior art.
As far as downloading video files is concerned, the Video Toaster was released for the Amiga 2000 in October of 1990... and video files were downloaded from computer to computer at that time... again Prior Art.
Apple itself developed a device for downloading video from another computer. The Apple Interactive Television Box was a set-top box developed by Apple Computer in partnership with British Telecom. Prototypes of the unit were tested in parts of the United States and Europe from 1994 to 1995, but the product was cancelled shortly thereafter, and has never been mass produced or marketed.
All of this prior art predates the 1997 patent application for the patent in question.
This patent should never have been granted.