Patent ID: 7454166

Claim:
A method of providing a preview service in which content to be broadcast is pre-programmed and then broadcast for users, the method comprising the steps of: receiving the broadcast in a user device, the user device being enabled via a valid subscription to receive the broadcast; selecting desired content from the broadcast for storage; recording said desired content on a non-volatile memory in the user device as it is received and without a recording authorization transaction; and playing back the desired content from the non-volatile memory for an amount of time selected from the group consisting of as many plural times as the user desires, an unlimited period of time, and a selected plural number of times; wherein said broadcast comprises program associated data (PAD) ancillary to the content to uniquely identify the different segments in the content, the PAD being synchronized with segment transmission in the broadcast; and further comprising authorizing the permanent storage of said content in the non-volatile memory and selected by a user, said content being flagged by a user for permanent retention using the PAD, the PAD being stored and later utilized for acquisition; verifying a purchase; and performing said authorizing step only after a verified purchase transaction, the acquired said content being a higher quality version for permanent storage.