Patent ID: 8484754

Claim:
A recording/reproducing method in a recording apparatus comprising: a receiving step, for receiving a digital content and for receiving copy control information to control copying of the digital content; a recording/reproducing step, for recording, in a recording medium, the digital content received in the receiving step, and reproducing the digital content recorded in the recording medium; and an outputting step to an external apparatus, for outputting the digital content recorded in the recording medium; wherein when the copy control information received in the receiving step indicates permission for making a predetermined number of copies, the digital content received in the receiving step is: recorded in the recording medium, managed such that the number of copies from the digital content recorded in the recording medium is within the predetermined number, and when the digital content recorded in the recording medium is copied to the external apparatus in the outputting step, the digital content is managed such that a total of the following is within the predetermined number: (a) the number of copies currently generable from the digital content recorded in the recording medium, (b) the number of copies of the digital content which has been already copied from the recording medium to the external apparatus, and (c) the number of copies generable from the digital content copied to the external apparatus.