Patent ID: 7809680

Claim:
A recipient apparatus for acquiring a content from a distributing apparatus, comprising: a first storage section that comprises a non-volatile memory and buffers pieces of the content distributed from the distributing apparatus by a streaming technique for a preview; a reproduction section that successively reproduces to an output device the piece of the content being buffered to said first storage section; a saving request generation section that generates, during the reproduction of the content distributed by the streaming technique for the preview, a saving request for permission to save the whole of the content; and a non-volatile second storage section that saves, in the case where the saving request is generated during the reproduction of the content for the preview, a first partial content of the content as first saving data, the first partial content being distributed from the distributing apparatus by a streaming technique and successively reproduced by said reproduction section after the saving request is generated, wherein, in the case where the saving request is generated during the reproduction of the content for the preview, the non-volatile second storage section further saves a second partial content of the content as second saving data, the second partial content being distributed from the distributing apparatus by a downloading technique according to the saving request and corresponding to the pieces of content distributed from the distributing apparatus by the streaming technique and reproduced for the preview by said reproduction section before the saving request is generated, and wherein, in the case where the saving request is generated during the reproduction of the content for the preview, the first saving data and the second saving data are saved in the non-volatile second storage section to acquire the whole of the content.