An exemplary digital rights management engine and related methods divides multimedia content into service level layers, encrypts at least some of the layers, and offers access to the encrypted layers by permission. The multimedia content may be layered using multiple different layering approaches simultaneously, and access to the different types of layers may be offered simultaneously. One of the layers may be left unencrypted to allow free browsing of a low quality service level. An exemplary system of key management for digital rights management is also disclosed.