A network system is made up of a plurality of PCs, a printer a server, and the like. The printer selects one PC from among the plurality of PCs as a firmware provider. Accordingly, if there are two or more PCs that can communicate with the printer, only one PC communicates with the server at the same time. Thus, to retrieve firmware from the server, a plurality of PCs can be prevented from communicating with the server at the same time, so that concentration of access to the server can be suppressed. Therefore, an increase in the network traffic can be suppressed.