Patent ID: 7466823

Claim:
A method of distributing electronic media, the method comprising: receiving a file at a user computing device, the file comprising an integral decryption engine and encrypted media content; requesting a decryption key from a remote server; receiving the decryption key from the remote server at the user computing device over a communication network, the decryption key itself encrypted at the remote server with a user key, the user key bonded to the user computing device by being based at least in part on one or more characteristics of the user computing device such that the user computing device can use the user key to decrypt the decryption key; and responding to receipt of said decryption key from said remote server at the user computing device by: using the user key to decrypt the decryption key at the user computing device; decrypting said media content at the user computing device using said integral decryption engine and the decryption key wherein receiving the file at the user computing device comprises receiving the file from a remote computer over the communication network that includes the remote server from which the decryption key is received but through a communication path that does not include the remote server from which the decryption key is received.