Location-based remote media access via mobile device

Data transfer is effected by a remote packet-communicating device to facilitate the transfer of data from a data source to another device that is local to the remote device. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, a host server provides access to a user's data source (e.g., at a registered user's PC) in response to a request from a remote packet-communicating device. The remote device directs the host server to facilitate the transfer of data from the data source to another device that is local to the remote device. In one implementation, a remote device and a media playback device are in communication on a local area network (LAN), and the remote device controls the communication of data from the data source to the media playback device, by interacting with a host server via a packet-communicating network and a gateway at the LAN.