Types of content that a user might wish to buy, rent, play, watch, listen to, use, or otherwise interact with, known as media, each have a specific media item type that defines the attributes that the item can have and how it can be consumed. A game that can be downloaded to the console—an XboxArcadeGame—has a different media item type from a new hat that your avatar can wear—an XboxAvatarItem—which is also different from an episode of a TV show—a TVEpisode. However, when performing a search across several types of items, Entertainment Discovery Services (EDS) organizes related media item types into media groups and treats the constituent media item types equivalently. The proper ordering of media groups is determined based on the query, and then the most relevant items, regardless of which media item type within the media group they have, are displayed first.
As an example, for the query halo, EDS might determine that the correct ordering of media groups is GameType, GameType, MusicType, GameType, MovieType. The most relevant item with a media group of GameType is chosen first, regardless of whether that item is an Xbox360Game, an XboxArcadeGame, or an XboxAvatarItem.
In any API that asks for a media group, a media item type can instead be specified—EDS will do the mapping. In some APIs that ask for an array of media item types, a media group can instead be used as shorthand for the full set of media item types it contains. Places where media groups can be substituted for media item types are called out explicitly.