A contents playback apparatus and the like are provided which allow a user to promptly designate a desired portion when displaying a part of a content in an expanded manner, and are thus excellent in operability. A contents playback apparatus includes an associating unit and a playback unit. The associating unit generates association information for a plurality of characteristic portions contained in a content by referring to priority orders of the respective characteristic portions relative to each other, the association information associating each of the characteristic portions individually with a predetermined operation key of an input device included in the apparatus in accordance with the priority orders. The playback unit plays back, in response to detecting an operation of an operation key during display of the content, the characteristic portion corresponding to the operation key in an expanded display mode, in accordance with the association information.