Neil Young readies Pono music service for expansion Part 2

Indeed. You can encode friggin' artwork in FLAC metadata.

 

It seems more and more that the whole point with this Pono thing is to create awareness of the option to have high-quality playback of your favourite music and you don't have to be stuck with mp3 crap. Fair enough but I was under the impression this was something more. As someone already stated, seems more like a new way to sell FLAC files for a new FLAC player.

Unless I'm missing something very important here, no thanks. I already have the ability to do this with that $400 still in my pocket. I'd rather spend that on some new vinyl.

 

Should I post the FAQ link again? Why not.

http://www.ponomusic.com/#faq

I think there was a press release as well. Let me take a look...

 

This is from the Kickstarter page, explaining were the money is going:

PonoPlayer Production

The PonoPlayer will be built by PCH International (Cork, Ireland and San Francisco), with its production facilities in Shenzhen, China. PCH International understands every step from design to direct fulfillment, and supplies products to many of the world's leading consumer electronic companies.

The PonoMusic and PCH teams began collaborating at the design stage almost two years ago at a meeting with Neil Young and Liam Casey, the CEO and founder of PCH International. As the design progressed, we worked closely with the PCH team to ensure the product was designed for high quality, high volume production. The PCH team includes engineers, toolmakers, a project manager, procurement specialist, packaging designer, and production specialists.

To date we have completed our tooling for first samples of the final enclosure, which have been used in building 50 units for testing, including listening tests by artists and audio experts. For these units we designed and built the circuit boards and did final assembly in Silicon Valley.

Our next step is to do one more revision of our electronics board, implementing some specific additional audio technology from Ayre Acoustics. We plan to build 50 additional units for more testing. Once we are fully satisfied with our final design we will be moving from our current engineering build environment in California to a pre-production facility at PCH International in Shenzhen. We will then work with PCH to build out the final assembly line, install the test equipment, and do two more builds before beginning production.

After several generations of prototypes and successive improvements, the latest generation players have undergone extensive testing for over six months. We now need to complete the final iteration of the design, conduct extensive testing of the player, develop and test our online PonoMusic.com Store, and move into production.

PonoMusic.com Store

We are currently engaged with one of the world's best Content Delivery Networks to build out the backend of our PonoMusic.com Store. Furthermore, we are working with a fantastic desktop media center vendor to build out the PonoMusic App for Mac and Windows PC. This media management application will act as the hub of your Pono ecosystem. It will allow you to:

• Browse, sample, purchase, and download music from the PonoMusic.com Store
• Manage and organize your entire music library including building playlists
• Load your favorite music on to your PonoPlayer for enjoyment at home or on the go

We are also working diligently on our main website, PonoMusic.com, where music lovers will be able to explore the PonoMusic universe, provide us feedback, collaborate with each other, and be part of PonoMusic as a movement for the highest quality digital recordings. We are very excited about the community of music lovers that will form and grow on our site.

We will begin to populate our music library with a great collection of high-resolution music. This is an on-going, never-ending process that we are eager to begin and will be delighted to continue every day at PonoMusic.com.

We believe that the risks described above are manageable, assuming a successful Kickstarter campaign.

Rewards & Fulfillment

We plan to fulfill the product rewards directly from PCH International to our donors using 3-day delivery. We plan to start production in late Summer and deliver the rewards to our supporters in October, 2014. We will be keeping our supporters informed on our progress through the various phases of our development and production process. Delays, should they occur, typically will likely be due to supply chain lead times of some special audio components or any unexpected challenges in the ramping up of production. However, we have great confidence in the substantial experience of PCH. They are real pros. As they say, “This ain’t our first rodeo”.

 

They do, but you still have to download the Ponoplayer and install to access and purchase the tracks. This is what gives me the almighty gripes. I may have to go over the website for the third time, but I didn't see anywhere where the tracks can be purchased outright, individually through ones internet browser. Much of the info is still rather vague.

 

If only he hadn't fallen into the trap of 'hirez will fix everything' and instead focused on getting stuff remastered properly. Skip the player, skip the 'underwater' nonsense, and focus on remastering... but that isn't as sexy I suppose and it's already done by AF, Mofi, etc.

 

True. We may have to wait to see how things really work. Downloading single tracks has been mentioned somewhere, though that might be limited to certain songs only.

 

Agreed. Mastering is THE most important thing. So I'm hoping that if more of the public go for Hi-Rez. The by-product may be that record executives may start thinking the public gives a damn about sound quality and will stop putting out the order to master classic albums at an ear splitting level.

 

Oh look, the name displaying has already improved.

 

I can appreciated you attitude towards this. But, if you've ever owned an iPod/iPhone (insert Android phone here, too), you'd understand why a bunch of people just meet this announcement with a big shrug. And maybe a bit of concern on why it should cost $400 when it appears to have limited functionality beyond the "portable" aspect.

We've already had iPods/iPhones/whatevers with lossless hi-rez for years, that also have digital output to your favorite portable DAC, or even home HiFi.

I can definitely appreciate NY's attempt to sell some hi-rez FLACs on the website. I don't buy many, but I do like the choice.

 

I see Neil Young is struggling with a net worth of $65 million at age 68. No wonder he had to ask fans for donations. Hopefully the profits from Pono will help him make ends meet.....

 

Understood but that's a mastering thing not just a pono higher Rez possibility thingy

 

Great post, really appreciate it... I want to love the idea, but if it's a commercial home run, why does it need kick starter for funding?

 

Most rich people rarely use their own funds to do new businesses. That's a fact

 

I know, and that makes it OK!

 

qobuz looked great on first impression, but same old, same old.

"This item is not available for download in your country"

I just wanted to purchase "Dear heart" off this Al Martino album, and I was blocked, anyone in france can purchase it for me, and I'll pay them through paypal?

http://www.qobuz.com/album/we-could...-cry-myself-to-sleep-al-martino/0094635301557

 

I wonder if the "fantastic desktop media center vendor" is JRiver?

 

PR and Pre-sales. They now know they have enough to cover getting a fab going in China.

Kickstarter now is just as much about pre-sales and PR as it about actually funding anything.

 

The close-mindedness of certain SH forum members lives on in this thread.
Condemn what you don't understand, trash what you don't want as if nobody should want it either and speculate in certitude about the unknown.

 

Listening in a car via line out? LOL. I will need to hire a chauffeur so he can drive while I plug my Pono and choose what to play.

 

Not judging either way.

 

Tell you what, let's meet up in this thread a year from now and evaluate the commercial viability of Pono? See ya then!

 

So after reading their comments I can understand why they chose that design for the player, but I still can't imagine myself putting that thing in my pocket.

 

These aren't merely donations. In fact, depending on what level of support you choose, you can save significant money off of the retail price. Kick starter projects are just as much about demonstrating interest to future investors, partners, and the industry you participate in as it is providing some capital.

With that said, I'm sitting back and waiting to see what kind of music is available before buying in early. I do like the concept despite it not being groundbreaking and the incredible amount raised in a half of day gives me hope for high quality digital distribution.