Available storage media capacity will be doubling every 2 years. In 2005 it will likely be possible to store about 80 movies on a single 400 GByte hard disk. Because it is no longer possible to access specific recordings stored in a book shelf by just looking at the video cassettes or discs and some annotations on their cover, personal video or audio recording will require new ways to organise and electronically search for content, including automatic content referencing and automatic content location. According to the invention the URI string is extended by additional information that allows to locate specific information within a file that is referenced by such URI. Similar types of URI extensions are used for describing trick mode information. Such extensions take into account specific requirements of the storage format involved.