1. A user-interface method of selecting and presenting a collection of content items in which the presentation is ordered at least in part based on inferring preferences of a given user from a plurality of users of an input device, the preferences of the plurality of users of the input device being learned based on content items selected by the plurality of users, the method comprising: providing a set of content items, each content item having at least one associated descriptive term to describe the content item; receiving incremental inputs from an input device; in response to said incremental input, presenting a corresponding subset of content items; receiving from the input device selection actions of content items; analyzing the descriptive terms associated with the selected content items to learn a composite set of preferred descriptive terms of the plurality of users of the input device; inferring preferences of individual users of the plurality of users from the composite set of preferred descriptive terms by decomposing the composite set of preferred descriptive terms into individual sets of preferred descriptive terms, said decomposition act utilizing prespecified statistical models of preferences of a population according to demographic information; and in response to receiving subsequent incremental input entered by one of the individual users, selecting and ordering a collection of content items based on the inferred preferences of said individual user.