Media Encoding SDK with FairPlay DRM?

Question

My company runs a video site. We currently provide our content via streaming and download it to a Windows PC using WMRM DRM. We strive to make content available for download for Mac, but we need to protect them with the DRM FairPlay system.

Is this something we can do, or is it FairPlay's property and is only allowed to encode Apple? Is there a Windows-based SDK / toolkit that allows us to extend our encoder software to be able to create FairPlay protected files? I would prefer the SDK so that we can develop an in-process solution instead of naming an executable file.

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(PS: I know that DRM is not popular, but this is not our call, it is a studio. Therefore, we have the choice to either make downloads available with DRM or not to download at all. For example, “DRM is bad” or “DRM is not the answer, "because it’s not my call, or even my company.)

Answer 1

No, apart from distributing your content through iTunes, you cannot use FairPlay:

“Apple concluded,” Jobs said, “that if he licenses FairPlay to others, he will no longer be able to guarantee the protection of his license.”

The only cross-platform DRM that has ever been announced is RealNetworks Helix, which was discontinued in 2007 . Despite the open-sourcing of some Helix technologies and some vague DRM sounds from these quarters, I don’t think that a working product has ever been released.

WMDRM or “something based on Flash” are the only real options when it comes to content protection, with majors usually only accepting the first when it comes to “upload to own” scenarios. Fortunately, Indies do not usually care about DRM.

Answer 2

You can use the downloaded FairPlay SDK, which can be found here: https://developer.apple.com/streaming/fps/

It should help you set up your FairPlay server environment.

Answer 3

Silverlight + PlayReady is a cross-platform DRM solution. It allows you to use your streaming + download support script on both Windows and MacOS.