- Neil Young has been talking up Pono, a high-fidelity alternative to the MP3 format, for years now, even using space in his 2012 autobiography Waging Heavy Peace to discuss its possibilities (called “PureTone” then). Now, finally, the details of PonoMusic have been revealed and you can pre-order your very own PonoPlayer at a discounted rate ($300; retail is $400) via this Kickstarter campaign. You also have the option to pay the full $400 and have your PonoPlayer “signed” (via laser engraving) by your choice of Beck, Jack White, Patti Smith, Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews Band, Willie Nelson, and many others.
The design of that thing is just terrible. It's like walking around with a Toblerone bar in your pocket. While I like the idea of a music store offering FLAC files, the benefits are lost on an portable music player because the subtle differences would not heard when you're out in the noisy world, especially not if you're using the cheap earplugs or headphones most people use.
Well most people who use cheap headphones and earbuds wouldn't buy this anyway, I don't think that's who this device is selling to. A portable dap that can play flac files would be a dream come true for me and anyone who wants to bring the nice sound they have at home with them throughout the day. There are a few options for this already, but they're either crazy expensive, or, like this one, designed so poorly that it ceases to become truly portable. My iPod Classic is a GREAT player with an awesome ui and tons of memory, but it can't play flac files (it plays ALAC but I don't use iTunes). I think 300 is a totally reasonable price for anything that can meet these needs, but the Pono is too oddly shaped and can't store enough of the flac files I keep at home for it to be useful for anything. It sucks, because I was excited when this thing was first announced.
Initially it was advertised as supporting an entirely new audio file type. Whether Neil has been lying this entire time or the press and us consumers just didn't look closely enough at the details, I'm not sure.
Yeah, I would say y'all weren't paying attention. He trademarked some stuff, he didn't patent some stuff. Trademarks are applied to existing IP to distinguish them in the marketplace. Patents are applied to new IP to protect their innovation. I remember looking at this back when he made his initial foofraw and the technical press was pretty much all "he ain't patenting shit, he's trademarking his own branded FLAC."
Well at least Neil can still do that guitar thing.
Shows how often I use my mp3 player. Phones play flac though mine does
Just because something is portable does not mean you have to use it on the go. I would love a portable FLAC player with line out because I could plug it into my office stereo, then my living room stereo, then the car. Nevertheless, it's a pyramid tube of music with a crappy looking UI. I can make do with my iPod Classic and my VBR 0 rips for a long time.
Valid point. I suppose the real issue is I don't understand wanting to use FLAC outside of a few sets of circumstances (archival, etc). V0 or 320 seem like better options regarding the file size to sound quality compromise, will sound pretty much the same as FLAC on most people's headphones/stereos, and they work on basically everything.
Fucking disgusting. Marketing FLAC to the masses and calling it new/revolutionary? What the fuck? Hell, most people aren't even going to have the speakers and headphones required to hear the sound difference between MP3s and FLAC, so it's all just going to be marketing bullshit. And most people can just get FLAC versions of their music anyway. No need for a special $400 player. I can do that shit on my laptop or phone. Where's my central music source? That's what I really want. I want Imeem back. A place to go where I can get any and every album I want, regardless of country of origin or genre. Sound quality is fine. MP3s sound great if you get 320kbps files with some decent headphones. FLAC doesn't really improve that much unless you have a high quality speaker set and a good ear. Edit: Their video with musicians was disgusting as well. Really? Those guys had no clue what they were talking about. "CD quality" as described by PONO is simply MP3 320. I listen to that every day, of course it's much better than MP3 192. As for the amazing sound, it's obviously because those guys are listening to cheap headphones (probably beats) and then comparing it to a top of the line car speaker. As soon as I heard "hasn't been that good since vinyl" is when I realized they were clueless. Vinyl is worse not better than digital. Analog is worse as well. Because you have artifacting and sound distortion because of the format. It changes the sound, and IMO for the worse. I'm sad to see musicians being blown away by what is now old tech. I'm guessing they are just stuck in the past and don't really care much about modern music formats. I'm sure if you let musicians that are also into tech (probably in genres like techno, dub step, etc.) you'd get a lot more people who are educated in music formats. This is just sad.