Digital media inventory control, distribution and destruction system

An article of manufacture comprising a tangible computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

• receiving and storing digital media from a digital media source;
• generating a plurality of portable copies of the digital media according to a communication signal transmitted over a network by a central database, each portable copy of the digital media including a digital watermark value;
• destroying selected ones of the generated portable copies of the digital media according to the communication signal;
• and
• transmitting, to the central database, storage information on identification of the stored digital media, the digital watermark values contained in the generated portable copies, and digital watermark values associated with the destroyed portable copies.

A media generation and destruction apparatus, comprising:

• a memory to store content;
• a communication interface to download inventory level information from a remote central database over a network;
• a burner component to generate portable copies of the content stored in the memory according to the inventory level information;
• a storage area to house the generated portable copies;
• a destruction component to remove selected ones of the portable copies housed in the storage area for destruction according to the inventory level information;
• and
• a tangible computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
• tracking a local inventory of the portable copies housed in the storage area;
• in response to receiving the inventory level information, comparing the downloaded inventory level information to the local inventory level;
• and
• in response to receiving the inventory level information, controlling the burner and destruction components to add or remove the portable copies to or from the storage area according to the comparison.