What can I pass on to my heirs and how do I do it?

For now, it's wise to make a backup copy of any e-books, videos and digital music that are not protected by Digital Rights Management software that prevents copies from being made.

Warning: Most e-books have DRM protection built in, but many music files do not. If you want to preserve your music, copy the files to a hard drive or thumb drive — any place your heirs will be able to easily access.

If it's important to you to pass on your digital content, make sure that your heirs know what devices and content you own and give them access to your account information, including passwords. In many cases, families are already sharing digital devices, e-books, movies and music by using the same account. After the death of the account holder, many simply keep using that account. Until the legal system catches up with technology and offers clearer guidelines on ownership and transference of digital content, this may be the simplest and best way to handle this situation.

You may also like:

Check out AARP's bookstore

You can borrow e-books at websites — and keep some of them for good

Remember to go to the AARP home page every day for tips on keeping healthy and sharp, and great deals.