Interesting to learn that the new PONO Audio Player promoted by Neil Young as a superior alternative to iTunes has tripled its required backing on Kickstarter in one day.
Although very convenient, I have never really grown to enjoy the music provided via iTunes or from my own CD's on an iPod, iPhone or iPad. It just seemed tinny and without much audio depth. In the car, or on an airplane, yah its great since its SO convenient. In my home when I want to kick back and listen to some great tunes, I find myself going old school and playing vinyl LP's. Only inconvenient thing is having to get off my butt every half hour to change the record :nod: I know, a First World Problem and the enjoyment of vinyl over a 192 kHz MP3 is hands down a winner.
Now with the PONO this digital device is probably going to be a very good alternative to vinyl. I shall see.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/neil-young-plans-pono-launch-for-2014-20130904
Neil Young's music service Pono, which will provide listeners with downloads of high-resolution songs made to sound like their initial recordings, is almost ready to roll. It's set to launch in early 2014, according to a Facebook post written by Young.
"The simplest way to describe what we've accomplished is that we've liberated the music of the artist from the digital file and restored it to its original artistic quality – as it was in the studio," wrote Young. "So it has primal power."
Neil Young Trademarks New Audio Format
Along with an online library of songs, Pono will release a line of portable players as well as digital-to-analog conversion technology. The project was designed as an alternative to the compressed, often lower-quality audio that listeners get with MP3s.
"PONO starts at the source: artist-approved studio masters we've been given special access to," Young continued. "Then we work with our brilliant partners at Meridian to unlock the richness of the artist's music to you. There is nothing like hearing this music - and we are working hard to make that experience available to all music lovers, soon."
No word yet on just how big the Pono library will be, but the company has struck a deal with Warner Music Group, and as of last year, it was reportedly in talks with the other two labels in the Big Three — Universal Music Group and Sony Music — about contributing remastered versions of their catalogues.
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Financing through Crowd Funding on Kickstarter was set at $800K for a 35 Day Campaign and was achieved in 10 hours. I just viewed the Kickstarter Website and the PONO has just surpassed the $2.5M level in a couple of days.
A few things I like about this technology are:
Removable 64 GB Micro SD cards allow cataloging of Music Genres on each SD card. Combined with the standard 64 GB on board the PONO you will have 128 GB of storage for your music.
The PonoMusic.com Store uses FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) audio format as its standard, for compatibility, although the PonoPlayer can play most popular high-res music formats from other sources. PonoMusic has a quality spectrum, ranging from really good to really great, depending on the quality of the available master recordings:
CD lossless quality recordings: 1411 kbps (44.1 kHz/16 bit) FLAC files
High-resolution recordings: 2304 kbps (48 kHz/24 bit) FLAC files
Higher-resolution recordings: 4608 kbps (96 kHz/24 bit) FLAC files
Ultra-high resolution recordings: 9216 kbps (192 kHz/24 bit) FLAC files
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http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/neil-young-reaches-800-000-pono-kickstarter-goal-in-1-day-20140312
Well, that was fast.
At 11:00 p.m. EST Tuesday night, less than 10 hours after launching a Kickstarter page to raise money for his new digital music service PonoMusic and its accompanying player, Neil Young surpassed his goal of $800,000. Young and the PonoMusic team had set an expiration date of Tuesday, April 15th to raise the necessary funds.
Watch 10 stunning videos from Neil Young's epic Carnegie Hall run
Per Kickstarter rules, project organizers keep any funds raised past the required amount. As Kickstarter notes on their FAQ, "Most of the time, what seems like 'extra' money isn’t extra at all. Ten times the funding often means 10 times the backers. More rewards have to be produced and distributed, and creators need that funding to do it (and sometimes some of their own money too).
"Sometimes when a project is overfunded it lets the creator put that money back into the project to create something better for the backers and themselves. More songs on an album, additional game elements, better materials, etc. In other cases, overfunding leads to better margins and the creator may even profit from the project. This often also means that the creator can continue the project beyond Kickstarter and backers are part of that story."
Young offered multiple rewards for financial contributions, including a "VIP Dinner & Listening Party" with the singer and limited edition Pono players signed by Arcade Fire, Pearl Jam, Beck, Foo Fighters and others. All 500 limited edition players with Young's signature laser-engraved on the device were sold for a minimum of $400 each.
The singer reached out to many of his musician peers for a testimonial video that accompanied the Kickstarter page. Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder, David Crosby, James Taylor, Tom Petty, Sting and a slew of other musical icons provided glowing recommendations for the service.
The player, which has a suggested retail price of $399, will contain 128 gigabytes of memory and can store between 1,000 and 2,000 high-resolution songs, depending on the resolution and length of the recording. The device will also accept memory cards, which can hold more music and playlists.
Although very convenient, I have never really grown to enjoy the music provided via iTunes or from my own CD's on an iPod, iPhone or iPad. It just seemed tinny and without much audio depth. In the car, or on an airplane, yah its great since its SO convenient. In my home when I want to kick back and listen to some great tunes, I find myself going old school and playing vinyl LP's. Only inconvenient thing is having to get off my butt every half hour to change the record :nod: I know, a First World Problem and the enjoyment of vinyl over a 192 kHz MP3 is hands down a winner.
Now with the PONO this digital device is probably going to be a very good alternative to vinyl. I shall see.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/neil-young-plans-pono-launch-for-2014-20130904
Neil Young's music service Pono, which will provide listeners with downloads of high-resolution songs made to sound like their initial recordings, is almost ready to roll. It's set to launch in early 2014, according to a Facebook post written by Young.
"The simplest way to describe what we've accomplished is that we've liberated the music of the artist from the digital file and restored it to its original artistic quality – as it was in the studio," wrote Young. "So it has primal power."
Neil Young Trademarks New Audio Format
Along with an online library of songs, Pono will release a line of portable players as well as digital-to-analog conversion technology. The project was designed as an alternative to the compressed, often lower-quality audio that listeners get with MP3s.
"PONO starts at the source: artist-approved studio masters we've been given special access to," Young continued. "Then we work with our brilliant partners at Meridian to unlock the richness of the artist's music to you. There is nothing like hearing this music - and we are working hard to make that experience available to all music lovers, soon."
No word yet on just how big the Pono library will be, but the company has struck a deal with Warner Music Group, and as of last year, it was reportedly in talks with the other two labels in the Big Three — Universal Music Group and Sony Music — about contributing remastered versions of their catalogues.
===================================================================================
Financing through Crowd Funding on Kickstarter was set at $800K for a 35 Day Campaign and was achieved in 10 hours. I just viewed the Kickstarter Website and the PONO has just surpassed the $2.5M level in a couple of days.
A few things I like about this technology are:
Removable 64 GB Micro SD cards allow cataloging of Music Genres on each SD card. Combined with the standard 64 GB on board the PONO you will have 128 GB of storage for your music.
The PonoMusic.com Store uses FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) audio format as its standard, for compatibility, although the PonoPlayer can play most popular high-res music formats from other sources. PonoMusic has a quality spectrum, ranging from really good to really great, depending on the quality of the available master recordings:
CD lossless quality recordings: 1411 kbps (44.1 kHz/16 bit) FLAC files
High-resolution recordings: 2304 kbps (48 kHz/24 bit) FLAC files
Higher-resolution recordings: 4608 kbps (96 kHz/24 bit) FLAC files
Ultra-high resolution recordings: 9216 kbps (192 kHz/24 bit) FLAC files
===================================================================================
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/neil-young-reaches-800-000-pono-kickstarter-goal-in-1-day-20140312
Well, that was fast.
At 11:00 p.m. EST Tuesday night, less than 10 hours after launching a Kickstarter page to raise money for his new digital music service PonoMusic and its accompanying player, Neil Young surpassed his goal of $800,000. Young and the PonoMusic team had set an expiration date of Tuesday, April 15th to raise the necessary funds.
Watch 10 stunning videos from Neil Young's epic Carnegie Hall run
Per Kickstarter rules, project organizers keep any funds raised past the required amount. As Kickstarter notes on their FAQ, "Most of the time, what seems like 'extra' money isn’t extra at all. Ten times the funding often means 10 times the backers. More rewards have to be produced and distributed, and creators need that funding to do it (and sometimes some of their own money too).
"Sometimes when a project is overfunded it lets the creator put that money back into the project to create something better for the backers and themselves. More songs on an album, additional game elements, better materials, etc. In other cases, overfunding leads to better margins and the creator may even profit from the project. This often also means that the creator can continue the project beyond Kickstarter and backers are part of that story."
Young offered multiple rewards for financial contributions, including a "VIP Dinner & Listening Party" with the singer and limited edition Pono players signed by Arcade Fire, Pearl Jam, Beck, Foo Fighters and others. All 500 limited edition players with Young's signature laser-engraved on the device were sold for a minimum of $400 each.
The singer reached out to many of his musician peers for a testimonial video that accompanied the Kickstarter page. Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder, David Crosby, James Taylor, Tom Petty, Sting and a slew of other musical icons provided glowing recommendations for the service.
The player, which has a suggested retail price of $399, will contain 128 gigabytes of memory and can store between 1,000 and 2,000 high-resolution songs, depending on the resolution and length of the recording. The device will also accept memory cards, which can hold more music and playlists.
