What does the “DRM Netscape Network Object” plugin in almost every browser?

Question

I always wondered about this plugin I see in almost any browser. What it do? When it is used and by who?

My current Chrome installation show this info about it:

Microsoft® DRM (2 files)
DRM Netscape Network Object

Name:   Microsoft® DRM
Description:    DRM Netscape Network Object
Version:    9.00.00.4503
Priority:   5
Location:   C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\npdrmv2.dll
MIME types: 
MIME type           Description             File extensions
application/x-drm-v2    Network Interface Plugin    .nip

Name:   Microsoft® DRM
Description:    DRM Store Netscape Plugin
Version:    9.00.00.4503
Priority:   7
Location:   C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\npwmsdrm.dll
MIME types: 
MIME type           Description             File extensions
application/x-drm   Network Interface Plugin    .nip

Answer 1

They are the plug-ins used by Windows Media Player that allows you to play DRM secured content that used the Windows Media format for the encoding.