Methods and systems of protecting digital content

One or more computer-readable storage media comprising computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

• partition digital content into multiple partitions;
• make at least one copy of each of the multiple partitions to define multiple partition sets, each partition set containing one partition and at least one copy of the one partition;
• uniquely mark each partition of each partition set, such that for each partition set the one partition and the at least one copy of the one partition are each uniquely marked;
• encrypt each partition of a partition set with a different key such that for each partition set the one partition and the at least one copy of the one partition are each encrypted with a different key;
• define multiple key collections each of which comprising a plurality of keys that were used to encrypt the partitions, each key collection containing one and only one key for each partition set, no two key collections being identical;
• associate each key collection with a corresponding content player on which the digital content is to be played;
• encrypt each key collection with a different public key of different public/private key pairs, each key pair being associated with a different content player that contains a private key that corresponds to a public key that was used to encrypt a key collection;
• and
• provide the digital content, including all of the encrypted partitions, and one or more encrypted key collections onto one or more readable storage media for use by the content players.

A method of protecting digital content comprising:

• providing digital content to a computer device;
• processing the digital content sufficiently, using the computing device, so that at least portions of the digital content are marked and encrypted such that when the portions are decrypted to provide the digital content in an unencrypted form, the decrypted digital content carries marks that indicate were a key collection used to decrypt it to provide the unencrypted digital content;
• identifying a specific content player corresponding to the key collection;
• and
• transferring or providing access to the processed digital content.