| TopSearch |
A system developed by Altnet that allows selected files to appear within search results in popular Media Desktop applications. In many ways TopSearch is similar to the sponsored searches offered by Google and others, where paid keywords appear within search results.
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| DRM |
Digital Rights Management, a means of protecting audio and video files by encrypting the files, only allowing users to play the files after they have obtained a License Key. See What is DRM for a detailed explanation.
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| License Key |
A Windows Media License Key is a small file that needs to be present on your computer before Windows Media Player will play the DRM-protected Windows Media file that’s requesting this license key. If you don’t have the license key then Windows Media Player will go to the web site whose URL is contained in the Windows Media file in an attempt to acquire a license key. The web site can then choose under what conditions to issue you a license – it might require you to simply fill in your email address, or it might ask you to provide credit card details so it can bill your credit card a few dollars.
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| Packaged Files |
Some Windows Media files are DRM-protected, others are not. Microsoft’s terminology for DRM-protected Windows Media Files is packaged files.
Packaging a file (i.e. creating a DRM-protected Windows Media file) consists of the following steps:
- Take an audio or video track (such as a WAV, AVI or MP3 file) and encode it in Windows Media format.
- You will now have a .wma file (for audio) or .wmv file (for video) which is not DRM protected and can be freely played.
- You now need to package (i.e. DRM protect) your file – this is done using a Microsoft program (which is only available to companies that have signed up as Window Media Vendors with Microsoft).
- The packaged file still has the same .wma or .wmv file extension, but the contents are now encrypted and can only be played back in conjunction with a License Key.
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| Windows Media Download Package |
In addition to using the term Packaged File to describe a DRM-protected Windows Media file, Microsoft uses the term Download Package to describe a Windows Media file that contains one or more audio or video files plus your own custom graphics that can surround the file when it plays back in Windows Media Player. These graphics (the border) allow you to add advertising, your logo, etc, around the file.
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| License Key Server |
When users try to play a DRM-protected Windows Media file, Windows Media Player will go to a URL contained in the file to acquire a license. The web server at this URL needs to be running Microsoft's License Server software. Altnet provides full licensing facilities including flexible payment options (including micropayments), Windows Media 6 and 7 compatibility, and more.
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