Apple and Pixar file "Instant Play" patents

This past Thursday, the US Patent & Trademark Office revealed Apple’s patent application 20050216674 entitled "Media Player with instant play capability." Basically, it refers to a device's (future iPod?) ability to begin playing an audio file instantly upon its being selected, even before the file has been fully or even significantly loaded from storage into memory. Also, according to the patent, the media file can be loaded into memory without disrupting the currently playing file at all via a special background process.

Imagine jumping from song precisely as rapidly as you can move from one to the other with your 'Pod. I just wonder what affect this process would have on battery life.