Patent ID: 8489453

Claim:
A method for acquiring a media item at a local computing device, the media item being acquired from an online media store, said method comprising: (a) receiving a user request via the local computing device to interact with the online media store to locate a particular media item, the particular media item having a media type associated therewith; (b) sending media item information concerning the particular media item to the local computing device; (c) receiving a user request to acquire the particular media item; (d) accessing a country of origin for the user that is purchasing the particular media item; (e) accessing a cost for the particular media item; (f) determining whether item credit can be used for the particular media item based on at least the cost for the particular media item and the country of origin for the user; (g) accessing an amount of item credit available to the user; (h) applying the item credit available to the user to reduce or eliminate the cost for the particular media item provided that said determining determines that item credit can be used for the particular media item; and (i) reducing the amount of item credit available to the user based on the item credit applied, wherein said determining (f) includes determining whether item credit is permitted to be used for the particular media item based at least in part on the media type associated with the particular media item.