Adobe® Access™ is a content
protection solution. It lets content owners, distributors, and advertisers
realize new sources of revenue by providing seamless access to premium
content. Publishers use Adobe Access to encrypt content, create
policies, and issue licenses. Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR incorporate a
DRM library, the Adobe Access module. This module enables the runtime
to communicate with the Adobe Access license server and play back
protected content. The runtime thus completes the life cycle of
content protected by Adobe Access and distributed by Flash Media
Server.
With Adobe Access, content providers can provide both free content
and premium content. For example, a consumer wants to view a television
program without advertisements. The consumer registers and pays
the content publisher. The consumer can then enter their user credentials
to gain access and play the program without the ads.
In another example, a consumer wants to view content offline
while traveling with no Internet access. This offline workflow is
supported in AIR applications. After registering and paying the
publisher for the content, the user can access and download the
content and associated AIR application from the publisher’s website.
Using the AIR application, the user can view the content offline
during the permitted period. The content can also be shared with
other devices in the same device group using domains (
New in 3.0
).
Adobe Access also supports anonymous access, which does not require
user authentication. For example, a publisher can use anonymous
access to distribute ad-supported content. Anonymous access also
lets a publisher allow free access to the current content for a
specified number of days. The content provider can also specify
and restrict the type and version of the player needed for their content.
When a user tries to play protected content in Flash Player or
Adobe AIR, your application must call the DRM APIs. The DRM APIs
initiate the workflow for playback of protected content. The runtime,
through the Adobe Access module, contacts the license server. The
license server authenticates the user, if necessary, and issues
a license to allow playback of protected content. The runtime receives the
license and decrypts the content for playback.
How to enable your application to play content protected by Adobe
Access is described here. It is not necessary to understand how
to encrypt content or maintain policies using Adobe Access. However,
it is assumed that you are communicating with the Adobe Access license
server to authenticate the user and retrieve the license. It is
also assumed that you are designing an application to specifically
play content protected by Adobe Access.
For an overview of Adobe Access, including creating policies,
see the documentation included with Adobe Access.
