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Neil Young to Debut 'PonoPlayer' High-Definition iPod Competitor This Week

It's an unfunny joke that Apple (and other large online music stores) still don't offer lossless files for sale. I know there are some who do, but they typically only offer a very limited selection compared to the likes of iTunes and Amazon. I imagine the music companies might be to blame, but whoever's fault it is, it's stupid.

Meanwhile they sell 1080p video files of multiple GBs. And Apple themselves (I think it was Steve Jobs years ago) have pointed out people tend to re-listen to music more often than they re-watch movies. It makes no sense.

So while I share many of the misgivings about this specific product, at least someone is trying, and maybe, just maybe it will add a little more pressure towards the day where most music is available at at least (proper) CD quality everywhere…
 
carjakester said:
great now too bad i have this thing called an iPhone and doesn't look like a toblerone bar
Image
Click to expand...

Was thinking of this myself. About the only justification I can see for this shape is to have space for higher capacity AA-sized LiIon batteries. Don't know if there is a market for a high-end player. To me, it should be an iPhone accessories workable via BLE and not its own device and ecosystem.
 
The Player looks pocketable/convenient but isn't really.
The Player looks Flashy/Pop but would think the audience wouldn't be into POP.
The UI is horrible.

I am guessing this isn't a wearable/on-the-go device as an audiophile would want to appreciate this without distraction and thus can lay it on a table to view the screen.

Maybe the idea was not to confuse it with an MP3 player or iPod so don't make it flat...the music isn't flat.
 
Reminds me of this...

Too late, this is worse than Will.I.Am release an iPhone 4/4s Camera when iPhone 5 was introduced....

iam_plus_vintage_back.jpg
 
That guy might have a hear of gold, but this thing isn't rocking' the free world.

Evidence of a needle and the damage done.
 
This would solve the serious problem of sitting on your iPod in your back pocket.

I did that with my PonoPlayer once.

Once.
 
No wonder iPods are a declining business with the pathetic storage options. I would buy a 32 or 64 Gig iPod Nano instantly to replace my ol brave blue 16 Gig Nano. I need something cheap that can store all my music. My iPhone is running out of space constantly so there is no music on my iPhone. And the iPod touch is too big.
 
Another ill conceived product that is the wrong shape for putting in your pocket and way too expensive. Only of interest to a few audiophiles and probably not many of them.
 
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This most likely won't be adopted by the masses, but there are people who agree with Neil and want high def audio on a portable device. I'm glad he's doing this, and I hope he releases many generations after it. Good luck to him and his quest for quality audio.
 
This has failed before it came to market

1) won't fit in pocket
2) won't feel natural in your hand
3) will it ship with HQ headphones?
4) not even out yet and the portable music era is dying...streaming is the new thing since it's cheaper than storage
5) ponoplayer???
 
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Epic fail

I mean yes I agree with the sentiment that this is a niche product for audiophiles, but here is the problem:

1) Design is amateur. The audiophile market is full of high price products like $10k record players and $40k speaker systems. A Fisher Price looking audio-device is not going to appeal to audiophiles.

2) Content, where is it going to come from? You can make a device, but this product REQUIRES the music to be distributed straight from the studio masters, and you are not going to get that from any of the other walled gardens. Starting up your own music distribution service in this market is suicidal.

3) Making hardware these days is a loss leader. Nobody buys pure-music devices these days, even Apple is getting out of the business. It would have made better sense to sell a codec that could be used on phones and tablets vs trying to come out with your own hardware.

4) Wrong design. People that do buy music only devices want it for running and exercise. This device is completely the wrong design for the market of people that want a pure music device. If it was in the form of a wearable device, you might have a strong contender in the fitness niche market, but not as a triangle. There is no way to wear or strap this device on you to exercise or run with that is not awkward.

5) Wrong form factor. There is NO point to sell a mobile device to an "audiophile". While there are good headphones on the market, the problem is people do not wear "studio" headphones while walking down the street. Anything less then a studio headphone (not created by one of the poser companies like Monster or Beats, etc), there is no point for carrying around studio quality content. A box connected to your home theater system is the right form factor. Good audio quality is not just "thumpin" bass coming out of overpriced poser headsets.

Good luck Neil, you are going to need it.
 
Out of the blue
and into the black
They give you this,
but you pay for that

This is the story of a Pomo rotten
 
alexgowers said:
Audiophiles? that's like the dudes that still buy vinyl because it sounds better... No vinyl sounds different because it needs to be modified to fit the specs of vinyl, such as balance, stereo image, rms, compression etc. Otherwise the vinyl will not hold all the audio data presented at the cutting needle.

Audiophiles are clueless, they think audio should sound better on a system. When in reality flat, transparent systems actually make things sound less hyped and fantastic, you actually hear what is there in the music.

This thing is a fail in so many ways it's actually unreal that money is being ploughed into it.

The audio quality of most phones is thousands of times better than even a few years ago, the bottle neck in sound quality is the headphones only.
Click to expand...

None of that makes sense. Compression? Image? Balance? The issues with vinyl as compared with digital formats are frequency range and dynamic range. And much music is within the range vinyl gives, hence its continued viability to some.

But hate all you want. :rolleyes:
 
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