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Neil young announces the launch of ponomusic


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The question all along with this has been about how open the technology is: is there DRM (apparently not; that's good), can one play PonoMusic files anywhere (this release suggests yes; that'd also be good), and can one play whatever non-PonoMusic files on their devices (I can only guess yes).

 

So then if this is just 24/192 FLAC (not clear, but I'm guessing), what's the value proposition for these devices? What's revolutionary about the entire concept? Is it just the content?

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I am guessing it comes in for far less than Astral&Kern dollars, has a little Ayre magic and will also have a hi-res download site. What's not to like?

 

Nothing. If that's what it is, then I might be interested. Just wish they'd make that clear.

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Good catch.

It appears there will be other players which will be able to play pono files; the remaining question is, will the Pono player support other than pono files (flac, alac, wav, dsf)?

 

I haven't seen anywhere it clearly stated that pono files involve a new file format. Certainly the PR doesn't suggest this.

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How would then this new service be any different from HDTracks or SuperHirez (which offer hi-rez downloads in a variety of standard formats)?

 

That's kind of my point: until they release specific details (presumably in the next day or so), it's all speculation.

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At an earlier point, Chris was much more skeptical about Pono. Now he is supportive, based in large part on information he is not allowed to share ATM. I'd trust, then, that the details may prove to be interesting.

 

In any case, we should know soon enough.

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I think the criticisms are missing the point: this is the anti-iTunes.

 

The store is the primary product here, but with an end-to-end easy-to-use experience enhanced by desktop software and portable hardware.

 

That a lot of people here aren't interested in all of this is understandable. But it's not designed for you necessarily.

 

The question is whether the market they're imagining (not self-described audiophiles, probably young, etc.) is actually out there and willing to support the complete vision. On one hand, the early success of the KS campaign seems to suggest yes. OTOH, I'm still a little skeptical about two primary things: price and form factor (is it portable enough?).

 

I'm very surprised about how they keep changing things, and how their numbers are bogus. For example, the first press release said 1,000 to 2,000 albums; that's not something you mess up, it's a key element in the product.

 

Also, they're spouting about "30 times more data" than MP3 files, which is simply a lie. I've written more about that here:

 

Kirkville | What’s the Point of Pono? And Why Are Pono’s Numbers Bogus?

 

While a lot of people on this forum will find this an interesting product, many have mention the Fiio devices, which are cheaper, and which have a more pocket-compatible shape. I don't see much in the Pono that is better than what's out there. To me, it seems like the player is being floated just to see if it works, but the music store is the real product.

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It's certainly not an "anti-iTunes." The whole "iPod killer" stuff is just journalistic hype.

 

I did not suggest it actually will; I have no real idea, and am myself skeptical.

 

But all you need to do is look at the evidence ...

 

1) NY wasn't happy about the quality of sound coming out of iTunes, and approached Steve Jobs to fix that. That went nowhere.

 

2) iTunes + iOS devices provide an easy-to-use, integrated sytem that is exactly analogous to what Pono is putting in place: desktop app, tied into online store to buy and download music, and that syncs with a playback device.

 

... to reasonably come to the conclusion that they are trying to build what they couldn't convince Apple to modify their system to do: couple the integrated ease-of-use that Apple provides with dramatically better sound quality.

 

That's what I meant by "anti-iTunes." It may not be the best term, but I was hoping to focus on what they're actually trying to do, rather than criticizing them by some other benchmarks.

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Young originally touted Pono as a file format; that's why the Wikipedia page is entitled https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pono_(audio_format).

 

I've loosely followed Pono from the beginning, and I never had the impression that anything they said publicly was specific enough to make any conclusions that it involved a new format. It seemed to me more assumptions that people made.

 

As I Google just now, I still can't find any definitive quotes. Can you?

 

BTW, in this 2012 article, Young calls for "a modern-day iPod for the 21st Century".

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