System and method for controlling the use and duplication of digital content distributed on removable media

A method for controlling the use of protected digital content distributed on a removable medium, comprising:

• reading the removable medium with a computer system;
• automatically producing a plurality of protected copies of the digital content;
• limiting the plurality of protected copies automatically produced of the digital content to a predetermined maximum determined by a provider of the digital content;
• automatically storing said protected copies on a storage device connected to the computer;
• and
• moving at least one of said protected copies to another device.

A method for controlling the use of protected digital content distributed on a removable medium, comprising:

• reading the removable medium with a computer system;
• automatically producing at least one protected copy, but no more than a predetermined maximum number of protected copies, of the digital content;
• automatically storing said at least one protected copy on a storage device connected to the computer system;
• controlling access to said at least one protected copy based on control information stored on the removable medium.

A digital storage medium having stored thereon digital data comprising:

• a plurality of segments of digital content data adapted to be unreadable on a computer system;
• a protected version of the plurality of segments of digital content data readable on the computer system;
• and
• a plurality of instructions stored on the storage medium and adapted to be executed by the computer system, the instructions which, when executed, define a series of steps to be used to control access to said protected version of the plurality of segments of digital content data, said steps comprising:
• automatically producing a predetermined number of copies of said protected version of the plurality of segments of digital content data;
• and
• allowing the predetermined number of copies to be transferred to authenticated devices so long as no additional copies are produced.

A method for controlling the use of protected digital content distributed on a removable medium, comprising:

• when the removable medium is inserted into a computer system, automatically executing a set of instructions;
• according to the instructions, automatically producing a predetermined number of copies of the protected digital content;
• according to the instructions, storing the predetermined number of copies of the protected digital content in the computer system;
• and
• according to the instructions, allowing no more than the predetermined number of copies of the protected digital content to be stored in the computer system at any given time.

A method for controlling the use of protected digital content distributed on a removable medium, comprising:

• receiving, by a computer system, the removable medium;
• upon receiving the removable medium, and without user input, automatically producing a plurality of copies of the protected digital content;
• and
• storing the plurality of copies of the protected digital content in the computer system.