PonoMusic

[zitothebrave]

Not gonna hijack the indie thread, but Neil Young's Pono hit kick starter 3 days ago has already raised 3.2M on kickstarter.

Pretty insane, they've already sold out of some of the signature series MP3 players including Tom Petty, Pearl Jam, and Neil Young. Pretty cool artist idea though, get 2 albums and their signature for the normal sale price of the device. I'm waiting to hear more about it before committing to it, but I like the idea a lot.

[Julio3000]

I love pretty much anything Neil Young-related.

[zitothebrave]

I wonder what the sound difference is and if i'd pick it up. But it's worth a shot.

[zitothebrave]

Also just saw the Foos version sold out. Apparently all of the people interested in this have similar tastes in music as myself.

[Julio3000]

Honestly, I'm not enough of an audiophile for it to make that much of a difference. But I love the idea of the idea being spearheaded by artists.

[zitothebrave]

I will settle for MP3s going back CD quality. I've usually tried to get higher quality MP3s through that. I would rather have less songs and them rock.

[Hawk]

I consider myself an audiophile, but find the Pono device itself to be fairly gimmicky. My homemade DAC setup can produce better sound ... and it cost me less than $50.

The Pono library, OTOH, is what I'm really intrigued by.

[Krgrecw]

Gimmicky. People aren't going to pay a lot for a device to listen to music while thier phone already does it for free.

[Knucksie]

I love pretty much anything Neil Young-related.

If you haven't already, check out his autobiography, Waging Heavy Peace. He mentioned Pono several times in the book.

Heres my take:

Great idea in theory...but in practice, it could be another matter. Here's why - throughout history, when there was a choice among consumers between fidelity and convenience, convenience ALWAYS won out. Examples from the last 25 years are when vinyl went out around 1990. It was virtually impossible to find a new LP. CD's and cassettes were all the stores would carry. Then, when CD sales started to decline, it was because of mp3's, which weren't even developed for music playback. Meanwhile, the CD was maturing as a source with the introduction of DVD-A, SACD and more recently Blu Ray audio. Only the most dedicated audiophiles supported these formats. The public at large went with iPods, because of portability. Now, it's the same thing with smart phones.

Already, there's a generation of kids, who've never had a home system. They go for what sounds "good enough." So, it's gratifying that Neil was able to raise the funds through Kickstarter, and his goal is noble for "master tape sound." It's just hard to project wide group of prospective customers embracing the concept.

[zitothebrave]

I consider myself an audiophile, but find the Pono device itself to be fairly gimmicky. My homemade DAC setup can produce better sound ... and it cost me less than $50.

The Pono library, OTOH, is what I'm really intrigued by.

I agree. But if it gets the library off the ground it's well worth it that people buy the player. And for people who don't want to do what you're doing they go for it because it's a different option. I really like the idea of the playlist. You can find high quality audio files out there but it's not easy. Somewhere to consolidate them would make my life way easier. I don't mind playing for music that I love. I don't mind paying twice really. Even if I hate record companies.

[zitothebrave]

Gimmicky. People aren't going to pay a lot for a device to listen to music while thier phone already does it for free.

You mean like people don't already do with MP3 player? You do realize people still buy iPods and other MP3 players correct? Sure it's not the way it used to be. But it's still around for a reason. Either people want more storage or another reason.

This isn't gimmicky, it's built towards a target audience, just because you're not part of the target audience doesn't mean it's a gimmick, and 3.5 million dollars worth of backing including nearly 10,000 units already gone in pre-sale. That's people backing it on concept alone. Without testing without knowing the market there's already 10000 or so people willing to lay their money on the line. Even if this doesn't dominate the market (I don't think anyone expects it to) it having a foothold is good for audiophiles. People are wanting to go back to vinyl and older formats in large communities.

[The Chosen One]

The target audience could grow. At first I thought only black kids would own beats by dre. I see white loss l kids wear them too despite the audio quality being terrible. Can get seinheiser for excellent quality cheaper.

Whenever I've let my friends listen to flac or 320cbr/256vbr compared to the 128kbpb they have they notice the difference in first try. I think if you look at pop albums downloaded on torreting sites the n download numbers for flac and 320 oz comparable to the 128. Matter a fact on mostb torrent sites flac or 256vbr are demanded mostand only options.

O think this will catch on in a year or so.

[zitothebrave]

Beats are advertising gold. Pono I don't think will reach that cred. That said I think many people will start latching onto higher quality audio in some way. Apple will latch onto it at some point if it has any traction and krg will change his tune.

[CyYoung31]

Hey hey Cripple Creek Ferry...

[Krgrecw]

Beats are advertising gold. Pono I don't think will reach that cred. That said I think many people will start latching onto higher quality audio in some way. Apple will latch onto it at some point if it has any traction and krg will change his tune.

Nah. The majority of people don't care enough to spend a couple hundred dollars to upgrade Thier music collection.

iPods are dead
Digital music had negative growth last year. First time ever. I wouldn't want to be involved with that format.
10,000's may buy it but I assume they'll need millions in order to turn a profit and make it financially viable.

[zitothebrave]

10000 early adopters likely indicates early millions in sales. And that's not including other potential revenue streams. You don't get it because you're not in the music scene. I know tons of people who'd love this concept. It's not likely gonna be a huge monetary yield, but the reason digital sales slowed is lack of innovation. Since the OG iPod what improvements have been made? Some UI improvements sure, but overall you're getting the same MP3s and all players have no differentiator. Pono is a differentiator. It may bomb, but I don't think it will. It will not be an iTunes competitor but like say craft beer, you don't need dominant market share to be highly profitable.

[The Chosen One]

The Sony Walkman anniversary edition is beautiful. Too bad it's like 700 bucks. It plays high quality like flac.

[zitothebrave]

The Sony Walkman anniversary edition is beautiful. Too bad it's like 700 bucks. It plays high quality like flac.

The 700 bucks is the problem. Unless it has like a 500 gb flash drive built into it.

[zitothebrave]

Pono's raised nearly 5M still with 20 days to go.

[zitothebrave]

Pono set to come out Q1 and store set to come out in October (or at least info)