Storage device and data output method for storage device

A data output method for a storage device having circuitry and a memory, the memory configured to retain content data and a table, the table including identification information of an external reproducing device and data format information of the content data reproducible in the external reproducing device in association with each other, the data format information identifying Direct Stream Digital (DSD) format, DSD over Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) (DoP) format, and a PCM format, the method comprising:

• receiving reproduction instruction to reproduce the content data stored in the memory;
• notifying the external reproducing device of the data format information of the content data reproducible in the external reproducing device, in advance to outputting the content data to the external reproducing device, the external reproducing device recognizing the data format of the content data based on the data format information sent from the storage device;
• and
• outputting the content data to the external reproducing device according to the reproduction instruction,
• wherein, when the external reproducing device is connected to the storage device, the circuitry is configured to acquire unique identification information for the external reproducing device, and determine whether the data format of the content data reproducible in the external reproducing device is the DSD format based on the table,
• wherein the circuitry is configured to specify the data format as the DSD format in case that the data format of the content data reproducible in the external reproducing device is the DSD format,
• wherein the circuitry is configured to convert data format of the content data into the data format reproducible in the external reproducing device by referring to the table, based on a priority of data format in order of the DoP format and the PCM format, in case that the data format of the content data reproducible in the external reproducing device is not the DSD format.

A reproduction process device comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• circuitry configured to:
• communicate with an external server through a network, the external server having a table including identification information of an external reproducing device and data format information of the content data reproducible in the external reproducing device in association with each other, the data format information identifying Direct Stream Digital (DSD) format, DSD over Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) (DoP) format, and a PCM format:
• receive reproduction instruction to reproduce content data;
• receive notification from the external server, the notification including the data format information of the content data reproducible in the external reproducing device, in advance to outputting the content data to the external reproducing device, the external reproducing device recognizing the data format of the content data based on the data format information sent from the reproduction process device;
• and
• output the content data to the external reproducing device according to the reproduction instruction,
• wherein, when the external reproducing device is connected to the reproduction process device, the circuitry is configured to acquire unique identification information for the external reproducing device, and determine whether the data format of the content data reproducible in the external reproducing device is the DSD format based on the table,
• wherein the circuitry is configured to specify the data format as the DSD format in case that the data format of the content data reproducible in the external reproducing device is the DSD format,
• wherein the circuitry is configured to convert data format of the content data into the data format reproducible in the external reproducing device by referring to the table stored in the external server, based on a priority of data format in order of the DoP format and the PCM format, in case that the data format of the content data reproducible in the external reproducing device is not the DSD format.