Flash Media Rights Management Server supports download-to-own as well as time-limited content licensing.  Licenses are tied to users, not hardware; it integrates with standard user identity management schemes such as LDAP and Microsoft Active Directory, and custom integrations are also possible through an API.  Flash Media Rights Management Server is based on Adobe's LiveCycle enterprise software platform and requires an Oracle database to store licenses, keys, and other data.  Future releases will support MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server.

One of the more unique features of Flash Media Rights Management Server is its support for the concept of a digital playlist.  It uses digital signatures to bind components of a playlist together.  This can be used to securely deliver personalized content built from components; it can also be used to tie ads with content so that they always play together even if they are in separate files.

Adobe's introduction of this technology means two things.  First, Flash is the only major digital video download format that, until now, has not had a DRM technology available (streaming Flash video already has a protection scheme called RTMPE, for RTMP Enhanced).  The product introduction shows the importance that video content owners still attach to DRM.

Secondly, Flash Media Rights Management Server works with AIR, which is Adobe's answer to Microsoft's Silverlight platform for developing rich media web applications... or vice versa.  Silverlight includes DRM specifically for video content, so the new Adobe technology serves as a "checklist item" for comparisions between AIR and Silverlight.