“In a show appropriately resembling an Apple product rollout, Neil Young took the stage at SXSW Tuesday to present his new music media ‘eco-system,’ PonoMusic,” Carlton Wilkinson reports for TheStreet. “”Pono’ means the one, the whole,’ Young said. ‘It’s a Hawaiian word.'”
MacDailyNews Note: Pono’s Kickstarter page states, “‘Pono’ is Hawaiian for righteous.” Hawaiian words can have more than one meaning, so…
“The iTunes-like product for distribution of ultra-high-quality digital audio files includes an online store of downloadable files from major and independent labels, a software library that lives on the customer’s device and a triangular piece of hardware about the size of a mobile phone that can fit in a pocket and can hold hundreds of albums of high-quality audio,” Wilkinson reports. “Young prowled and growled his way around the stage solo for about half an hour, flanked by a SXSW backdrop and images on two giant screens. He explained his complaints against CD and mp3 formats, his fixation with creating a better technology that can represent music to the public with all the detail the artists intend, and the launch of his Kickstarter campaign after failing to generate interest from traditional investment channels.”
“Young aims to create an experience for the the next generation of musicians and listeners that will be even better than the high-quality vinyl analog recordings of his youth, he said. ‘I don’t want to bring anything back,’ he said. ‘I want to take it forward,'” Wilkinson reports. “Major and independent labels can sell their music through PonoMusic at whatever resolution they prefer. Young himself is making all of his music available at the highest resolution possible (192 kHz/24 bit) but he acknowledges that many artists won’t have access to that format or won’t choose to use it… Pono’s Kickstarter campaign has gained significant ground in its early stages. While it still had fewer than 4,000 backers Wednesday morning, it has already well exceeded its goal of $800,000, at a pledged amount of $1.28 million.”
MacDailyNews Note: $1,788,378 currently.
Certain language in the following video may not be suitable in certain venues. NSFW:
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Niche.
But, if it helps to elevate quality audio reproduction across the board, it’s worth the effort.UPDATE, March 16, 2014, 13:01pm EDT: PonoMusic sounds like a boondoggle.
Please read:
Neil Young’s 24 bit/192kHz ‘PonoMusic’ project is a very silly boondoggle – Sunday, March 16, 2014