IEEE Spectrum July, 2007 - 7

ter method-at least when the OLED
solution is applied via inkjet printing-
is a long way from commercial viability.
"With vacuum evaporation you can
create a four- or five-layer structure
very easily," says Kido.
KM has a different view, pointing to
a century of experience in producing
photographic film-a business it
exited last year in order to focus
on new technologies such as OLED
development. The company remains

coy about its approach to roll-to-roll
production. But KM hints that rather
than using inkjet printing to apply the
OLED material, it is tapping its filmmaking know-how to pursue a "coating
process" that will enable it to lay down
"multilayers" of the solution during
the roll-to-roll process.
With either process, what's clear
is that after two decades of research,
OLEDs are just about ready to light up
the industry.
-JOHN BOYD

CUffs off: Eric Nicoli, CEo of EMi
[right], joins with Apple's steve Jobs
in unlocking digital music.

COmmENTARY

Imagine There's No DRM ...
I Wonder if You Can

Even rock stars rejoice when a major record company takes the locks
off digital music. By Tekla S. Perry
digital	rights	management,	
property	is	vital	to	their		
the	group	of	technologies	that	
creative	efforts.
control	copying	and	use	of	digi-
Until	last	february,	the	
tal	media	downloads	and	disks,	 tides	continued	to	move	in	
has	infuriated	consumers	
favor	of	expanded	dRm,	but	
since	its	inception	in	the	mid-
then,	with	his	trademark	
1990s.	Consumer	advocacy	
panache,	Apple's	cofounder	
groups	rallied	against	it,	argu-
and	CEo,	Steve	Jobs,	pro-
ing	that	locking	digital	content	 posed	that	we	simply	dispense	
prevented	not	only	illegal	uses	 with	dRm	altogether.	In	an	
but	legal	ones	as	well.	But	the	
essay	published	on	the	Apple	
record	and	movie	industries	
Web	site,	"thoughts	on	music,"	
lobbied	hard	for	enforcement	
Jobs	said	that	Apple	would	
of	these	locks,	and	in	1998	
embrace	"in	a	heartbeat"	dRm-
won	the	passage	of	the	digital	
free	music,	if	only	the	music	
millennium	Copyright	Act,	
companies	would	allow	it.	he	
which	made	simply	breaking	
stated	that	dRm	systems	
one	of	these	locks	illegal,	even	 "haven't	worked,	and	may	never	
if	no	copyright	violation	fol-
work,	to	halt	music	piracy,"	
lowed.	the	industries	have	
and	suggested	that	those	
taken	the	position	that	pro-
unhappy	with	dRm	stop	com-
tection	of	artists'	intellectual	
plaining	to	Apple	and	"redirect	
14	

IEEE	Spectrum	|	July	2007	|	NA		

their	energies	towards	per-
suading	the	music	companies	
to	sell	their	music	dRm-free."
the	rumor	mill	took	these	
statements	to	mean	that	at	
least	one	record	company,	
if	not	more,	had	dRm-free	
	downloads	in	the	works.	And	
indeed,	that	was	the	case;	in	
April,	the	London-based	EmI	
group,	which	ranks	third	in	
sales	among	music	companies	
worldwide,	announced	that	
it	would	now	offer	premium	
downloads	free	of	dRm	
restrictions.	EmI	believes,	
said	company	CEo	Eric	Nicoli,	
that	allowing	consumers	to	
listen	to	digital	music	"on	the	
device	or	platform	of	their	
choice	will	boost	sales"	[see	
photograph,	"Cuffs	off"].

then,	in	mid-may,	Amazon	
announced	it	would	sell	dRm-
free	music	online,	including	
recordings	from	EmI	and	
some	12	000	independent	
labels.	one	analyst	predicted	
that	by	the	end	of	this	year	
half	of	the	world's	whole	
music	catalog	would	be	availa-
ble	without	dRm	restrictions.
Jobs's	announcement	was	
greeted	initially	with	cynicism:	
was	he	merely	trying	to	finesse	
recent	European	moves	to	
bring	antitrust	action	against	
Apple's	itunes?	did	he	assume	
nothing	really	would	come	of	
his	seductive	proposal?	Was	
it	all	just	public	relations?	But,	
in	fact,	his	proposal	and	EmI's	
action	amount	to	great	news	for	
consumers,	who	will	be	able	to	
use	digital	music	libraries	much	
more	freely.	the	initiatives	are	
also	good	for	consumer	elec-
tronics	companies,	which	will	
be	able	to	sell	new	products	to	
enable	consumers	to	move	that	
dRm-free	music	around.	And	
there	may	even	be	benefits	for	
recording	artists,	though	the	
net	impact	of	a	dRm-free	world	
on	the	fate	of	the	record	com-
panies	is	less	clear.
historically,	music	distrib-
uted	on	vinyl,	tape,	and	Cd	
was	free	of	copy	protection.	In	
contrast	to	the	film	industry,	
which	began	attempting	to	
prevent	copying	as	soon	as	
the	VCR	made	home	recording	
possible,	the	music	business	
has	a	long	history	of	copying	
for	various	uses,	some	clearly	
legal-such	as	making	a	mix	
tape	for	a	party-and	some	
less	so,	like	selling	bootleg	
concert	tapes.
www.spectrum.ieee.org

CARL	dE	SoUZA/AfP/gEtty	ImAgES

NEWS

such as plastic, which could be produced in long sheets.
To date KM has produced its
OLED lighting using a vacuum
evaporation process. "This has to
change to a solution or film process
suitable for roll-to-roll manufacturing," KM's Komamura emphasizes.
The Yamagata University group has
also been experimenting with both
vacuum evaporation and roll-to-roll
processes. But Kido believes the lat-
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum July, 2007
