Pono Music Store online and out of beta according to report

[Hikmer]

Logged in and ordered 2 NY albums. Zuma and On the Beach - my 2 favorites, one in 88k and one in 192. Purchasing experience was okay.

You do need their music store app to download the purchases.

 

Buying requires US address and US credit card, apparently. They only have the US listed as a country for addresses when you check out. I tried using a non-US credit card and it was rejected.

 

The download itself is going well, about as fast as I get anything with my provider.

 

Edit: SQ is good, best versions I"ve heard. I've got the original vinyl and the 2003(?) CD remasters (they're good). This has the usual attributes of a good hi-res remaster: more clarity, better detail. Not orders of magnitude better, but definitely worth it for someone who likes the albums.

 

I pulled the trigger on Live Rust, not owning this on any previous media (however I recall having it on domestic vinyl and didnt like it much so sold it). It is very listenable, and from what I gather has an extended versions of a few songs that were edited for CD. DR levels below....

 

foobar2000 1.3.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1

log date: 2015-01-06 17:36:11

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Analyzed: Neil Young / Live Rust

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DR Peak RMS Duration Track

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DR13 -2.28 dB -18.13 dB 5:03 01-Sugar Mountain (Live)

DR12 -4.30 dB -18.78 dB 3:01 02-I Am A Child (Live)

DR12 -3.20 dB -18.28 dB 3:16 03-Comes A Time (Live)

DR11 -3.14 dB -17.98 dB 3:49 04-After The Gold Rush (Live)

DR11 -5.46 dB -19.78 dB 4:14 05-My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue) [Live]

DR13 -0.17 dB -14.49 dB 3:51 06-When You Dance I Can Really Love (Live)

DR13 -0.44 dB -14.79 dB 4:53 07-The Loner (Live)

DR11 -2.55 dB -17.37 dB 3:07 08-The Needle And The Damage Done (Live)

DR12 -0.82 dB -15.39 dB 2:52 09-Lotta Love (Live)

DR12 0.00 dB -14.16 dB 4:55 10-Sedan Delivery (Live)

DR11 -1.25 dB -14.31 dB 5:50 11-Powderfinger (Live)

DR13 -0.07 dB -15.60 dB 7:28 12-Cortez The Killer (Live)

DR13 -0.15 dB -14.67 dB 3:25 13-Cinammon Girl (Live)

DR12 -1.46 dB -15.73 dB 7:49 14-Like A Hurricane (Live)

DR13 -1.06 dB -15.49 dB 5:09 15-Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) [Live]

DR12 -0.39 dB -14.78 dB 7:14 16-Tonight's The Night (Live)

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Number of tracks: 16

Official DR value: DR12

Samplerate: 192000 Hz

Channels: 2

Bits per sample: 24

Bitrate: 5190 kbps

Codec: FLAC

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One really cool thing about Pono is the ability to have a threaded conversation (much like Facebook) to discuss the record. I think that is a really neat feature.