For possible use in an electronic content distribution system, automatic
recognition of compact discs or other storage media containing particular
content, and corresponding account crediting is described. In an
electronic content distribution system, such as those providing music
available by digital downloading or streaming technologies, a user may
ordinarily pay a full price to receive the music. A user who possesses
and apparently owns a compact disc containing particular content can be
conveniently offered a discount or credit usable towards the purchase of
the analogous particular content in a form provided by the electronic
content distribution system. Preferably, compact discs are uniquely
identified by determining whether their digital fingerprint matches a
known reference fingerprint for a compact disc containing the particular
content.