Digital rights management (DRM) refers to a combination of technical (both hardware and software) and legal means for protecting digital content from unlimited reproduction and distribution without permission . DRM hardware and software encrypts content so that it cannot used without some form of authorization typically based on a payment. the objective is to control the uses of content after it has been sold or rented to consumers. Essentially, DRM can prevent users from purchasing and making copies for widespread distribution over the Internet without compensating the content owners. While music tracks in the ITunes Store were originally protected by DRM, in 2009, Apple abandoned the practice because of user objections, and because Amazon had opened an online music store in 2007 without any DRM protection, with the support of music label firms, who came to realize that DRM prevented them from exploiting the opportunities of the Internet and perhaps encouraged an illegal market. Most music firms with subscription services use technologies that limit the time period that a song can be without subscribing. For instance, songs downloaded from Rhapsody, the largest music subscription service, will not play after 30 days unless the user pays the monthly subscription fee. And if you don't pay, you will lose access to all your songs. Movies streamed from Netflix are technically difficult cumbersome to record and share. Streaming services, including both Apple and Amazon, use a kind of DRM called a walled garden to restrict the widespread sharing of content. They do this by tying the content to the hardware, operating system, or streaming environment. E-books purchased from Amazon can only be read on kindles or Kindle apps running on smartphones, tablets, computers, or browsers. Kindle books cannot be converted to other formats, like EPUB or Adobe PDF files. By locking the content to a physical device, or a digital stream with no local storage, the appliance makers derive additional revenues and profits by locking customers into their service or device. Streaming content from a cloud server also offers publishers some protection from piracy when compared to selling a physical product like a CD, or DVD.