Neil Young devotees have been hearing about Pono or "PureTone" for a while now, and the public will finally be able to get their hands on the new digital format. The classic rocker, who's been the driving force behind Pono, will unveil the first PonoPlayer at SXSW on Tuesday. Interested buyers can register preorders via Kickstarter on Saturday, March 15.
The PonoPlayer was developed in coordination with Ayre Acoustics, will be available starting at $399.99 (although Kickstarter buyers will receive a discount). The device will be able to store "100-500 high-resolution digital albums," depending on the length and resolution of the original recording. If you want to add more music to your device, you can buy memory cards to attach to the device. Yes, exactly like with your Playstation 2.
The selling point to Pono is that the files are reportedly much, much higher quality than the .mp3s on your iPod. Young reports that a typical mp3 file features 5 percent of the data contained in a Pono file. The files feature zero-feedback circuitry and a digital feature to prevent "unnatural pre-ringing."
"Hearing Pono for the first time is like that first blast of daylight when you leave a movie theatre on a sun-filled day," he said.
The concept behind Pono is beautiful. The problem is that it comes so far behind iTunes' domination of the digital music industry. We bought an iPod that stores 160gb for $200 back in 2008. And we may be a bit more invested in music than the average listener, but we already own all of our favorite records on vinyl. If we had the money, we'd love to buy a Pono system. We don't, and the average listener would rather shill-out for better headphones than a better format. We-as music fans- also approve of Pono's whole album-versus-singles approach. But that's also going to turn off the average listener.
We wish Young and Pono the best of luck, for the sake of music quality, but it's going to struggle finding a market.
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