Subscription services

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2

Another method of providing content to users is as a subscription service. In this scenario, a user pays a fee to play back content a certain number of times and to receive licenses for a variety of content each billing period. When implementing this scenario, consider the following:

  • Determine the method for licensing your content. For more information about the methods for streaming protected Windows Media-based content, see the Windows Media Rights Manager SDK.

  • Use the Windows Media Services snap-in to create on-demand publishing points on your server to distribute subscription content.

  • Enable the authentication and authorization plug-ins that you want to use to control access to your content. You may also want to enable a logging plug-in to record the activity on the publishing point. Using data collected in the log files, you can create reports to verify that your system is performing as expected.

  • Let your users know that content is available. You can create a link on your existing Web site that users can use to connect to your publishing point and access your content. You can also create a default Web page with a link to your content and then customize the page to meet your needs.