Patent ID: 7353540

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: accumulation means for accumulating information for sale; usage condition generating means for generating usage conditions in response to a purchase selection of the information for sale; encryption means for encrypting said purchase selection; encryption key generating means for generating a cryptographic key which decrypts said purchase selection; writing means for writing said purchase selection along with said usage conditions for said license management capability and said cryptographic key to a portable recording medium upon authentication; and determining means for determining, based on a cross-authentication signal supplied from the writing means, whether or not said portable recording medium is capable of supporting a license management capability for reproducing said purchase selection in accordance with the usage conditions prior to writing a purchase selection thereto, said portable recording medium directly or indirectly loaded on said apparatus, wherein the cross-authentication signal is a challenge response to a previously recorded key ID on the portable recorded medium, and said portable recording medium is a memory device configured to be loaded to a player device for reproduction of the information for sale.