The portable electronic device 200 receives (step 705) first playback information sent by the intelligent multimedia playback device 250, where the first playback information corresponds to the first multimedia content played by the intelligent multimedia playback device 250. An optional obtaining manner is as follows: The intelligent multimedia playback device 250 periodically sends the playback information to the portable electronic device 200; the intelligent multimedia playback device 250 sends the playback information to the portable electronic device 200 after the playback information changes; or after the portable electronic device 200 sends an obtaining request, the intelligent multimedia playback device 250 sends the playback information to the portable electronic device 200. The first playback information includes an identifier of the first multimedia content and a playback progress of the first multimedia content, and optionally includes a source address of the first multimedia content, a playback status of the first multimedia content, a volume status of the first multimedia content, or playback volume of the first multimedia content.