Content use system, recording apparatus, reproducing apparatus and system control method

The user's favorite, up-to-date information, is carried and used without having to perform any complicated procedure. A portable information terminal (200) can receive, via a parent apparatus interface, content data that is extracted from a HDD in accordance with a control operation performed by a hard disk recording apparatus (100) and transferred via a child apparatus interface, record the received content data in a memory, and reproduce the recorded content data for use. In accordance with the information contained in a preference database and broadcast schedule, the hard disk recording apparatus (100) controls a tuner section to select a user's favorite broadcast program, and records the selected broadcast program on a recording medium. In accordance with reproduction data that is supplied from the portable information terminal (200), a control section updates tuning instruction information that is stored in the preference database.