In accordance with a key exchange mechanism for streaming protected media content, key exchange components on both a client device and a server device communicate with one another to pass one or more keys from a removable storage medium (e.g., a DVD) on the server device to a media content player on the client device. The communications passed between the components allow keys used by the media content player to be transferred from the removable storage medium to the player so that the player can decode the content on the storage medium.