Pono Music Player

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arewhyehen
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Pono Music Player

Post by arewhyehen »

Did anyone get lucky enough to grab a Neil Young edition? I am angry that I missed out on this.
I would love to make a deal on one.
Any takers?
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Alabama Woody
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Re: Pono Music Player

Post by Alabama Woody »

I was late to read the email and by the time I signed on they had sold out of the Neil Young signature ones. They also had sold out of the $200 ones which was the best price offered ! Funny you should post this I'm sitting here debating about the Tom Petty Signature version or the $300 version.

They are having an official release type of gig at SXSW, wondering if any will be sold there? I have asked a Swirler to check, so maybe I will get lucky. But thats a hefty chunk of change to ask a Swirler to drop for you. I have offered instant paypal and my phone number. I would love to get a Neil Young signature version ! Pre loaded with his favorite 2 albums !!! That would be my Holly Grail for now. Well besides a Horehound TP !
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Kali Durga
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Re: Pono Music Player

Post by Kali Durga »

A video about this showed up on my Tumblr dashboard this morning, but I didn't have time to watch the whole thing. Could someone give a quick'n'dirty (or even clean) explanation of this thing?
"And the message is clear: if we want Jack White as our hero, he will entertain, but not pander. We have to accept all his flaws, whims, caprices and manias as a critical, sometimes uncomfortable, part of the contract."
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Re: Pono Music Player

Post by cwja »

Kali Durga wrote:A video about this showed up on my Tumblr dashboard this morning, but I didn't have time to watch the whole thing. Could someone give a quick'n'dirty (or even clean) explanation of this thing?
It's basically an HD iPod. iPod uses mp3s which, while taking up less storage space, are compressed and you lose the warmth and full spectrum of the sound. These will play mp3s, but also support other formats that have a higher quality sound. They take up more space, but they get around this by using SD cards to supplement the storage capacity. You can load some files on the PONOS "permanently", but if you have other music which exceeds that storage limit, you just pop in the SD card it's loaded on. Gives you the best combination of portability and sound. Supposedly, the sound in the PONOS format is better than CDs or vinyl. I find this hard to believe, but even if it just comes close it's still better than mp3s.

Hope that helps and good luck to both of you tracking down your Uncle Neil versions.
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woodisgood
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Re: Pono Music Player

Post by woodisgood »

When I first got the Kickstarter link, they still had the $200 version for sale. I debated for maybe 15 minutes . . . next thing you know, those are all gone. Thinking about it, I would be a buyer at $200, and even that price for me is slightly above my comfort threshold for a digital music player I can't test with my own ears.

I never listen to digital at home, and I'm not allowed the "nice computer speakers"/turned-up-above-3 experience at work, so this thing would only be for my commute. $300 is just too much for me, and to be honest, the celebrity endorsement video was, IMO, laughably ridiculous. There's only one way to judge this thing, and that's by experiencing it yourself. None of those peoples' endorsements means a witch's titty to me.
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Re: Pono Music Player

Post by cwja »

I didn't watch the video, but I have serious doubts about the sound quality. Sadly, I bought one because it's pretty and has Pearl Jam on it. If it turns out to actually provide great sound that will be a huge bonus. Buying one based solely on it really sounding better would be a giant leap of faith.
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Re: Pono Music Player

Post by arewhyehen »

cwja wrote:I didn't watch the video, but I have serious doubts about the sound quality. Sadly, I bought one because it's pretty and has Pearl Jam on it. If it turns out to actually provide great sound that will be a huge bonus. Buying one based solely on it really sounding better would be a giant leap of faith.
I have no doubt that the quality is definitely better. The quality of an MP3 now day's is terrible. I even began listening to flac files vs MP3 files last night after seeing this, and you can hear a distinct difference in quality.

The only things I am a little disappoint with is the odd shape and size. I am not sure the reasoning behind it, but it takes away from the portability of the product. They even mention that in the video. Second, only a 64gb drive? I get that you can use an SD card to add another 64gb, but that is nothing when it comes to the size of flac files.

I am also wondering whether the "artists" signatures such as Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters, etc. will include just a fancy signature of the band name, or all the band members signatures on it?
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Re: Pono Music Player

Post by Kali Durga »

Ok, so it's not a new sound format, but a new player that will play existing formats both "lossy" and "non-lossy"?
"And the message is clear: if we want Jack White as our hero, he will entertain, but not pander. We have to accept all his flaws, whims, caprices and manias as a critical, sometimes uncomfortable, part of the contract."
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Kaber
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Re: Pono Music Player

Post by Kaber »

You can play lossless on an ipod as well in ALAC format.
The SD card option does sound pretty good though - what size of cards are available?
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Re: Pono Music Player

Post by cwja »

Kali Durga wrote:Ok, so it's not a new sound format, but a new player that will play existing formats both "lossy" and "non-lossy"?
It's a new sound format as well. There will be a PONOS music store, but it will also play all of the other formats.

Kaber wrote:You can play lossless on an ipod as well in ALAC format.
The SD card option does sound pretty good though - what size of cards are available?
From what I've seen 64GB. Player has 64GB of storage built in, so a total of 128GB is available at one time.
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Re: Pono Music Player

Post by cwja »

arewhyehen wrote:
cwja wrote:I didn't watch the video, but I have serious doubts about the sound quality. Sadly, I bought one because it's pretty and has Pearl Jam on it. If it turns out to actually provide great sound that will be a huge bonus. Buying one based solely on it really sounding better would be a giant leap of faith.
I have no doubt that the quality is definitely better. The quality of an MP3 now day's is terrible. I even began listening to flac files vs MP3 files last night after seeing this, and you can hear a distinct difference in quality.

The only things I am a little disappoint with is the odd shape and size. I am not sure the reasoning behind it, but it takes away from the portability of the product. They even mention that in the video. Second, only a 64gb drive? I get that you can use an SD card to add another 64gb, but that is nothing when it comes to the size of flac files.

I am also wondering whether the "artists" signatures such as Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters, etc. will include just a fancy signature of the band name, or all the band members signatures on it?
I'm sure it's better than iPods/mp3s, just meant I had my doubts about the mind blowing sound that's been described in comparison to vinyl or CDs.

64GB is about 400 FLAC songs and close to 2000 CD quality songs. That's a pretty nice sized chunk of music. My biggest concern is the cost of acquiring all of these high quality versions of stuff I already have. Could add up really quick.

I figure the worst case scenario is that I get a sweet looking digital media player with my favorite band's name on it. Best case, it actually works as well as they say and eventually low quality digital music becomes a thing of the past. Will probably end up somewhere in the middle.

If it goes as well as the kickstarter drive, they'll be doing great. Last I checked it was already $500,000 over the goal. CSNY version is now gone. PJ version is halfway there. Still plenty of the other bands left. I think the next highest is Petty, with a little over 100 sold.
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arewhyehen
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Re: Pono Music Player

Post by arewhyehen »

cwja wrote:
arewhyehen wrote:
cwja wrote:I didn't watch the video, but I have serious doubts about the sound quality. Sadly, I bought one because it's pretty and has Pearl Jam on it. If it turns out to actually provide great sound that will be a huge bonus. Buying one based solely on it really sounding better would be a giant leap of faith.
I have no doubt that the quality is definitely better. The quality of an MP3 now day's is terrible. I even began listening to flac files vs MP3 files last night after seeing this, and you can hear a distinct difference in quality.

The only things I am a little disappoint with is the odd shape and size. I am not sure the reasoning behind it, but it takes away from the portability of the product. They even mention that in the video. Second, only a 64gb drive? I get that you can use an SD card to add another 64gb, but that is nothing when it comes to the size of flac files.

I am also wondering whether the "artists" signatures such as Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters, etc. will include just a fancy signature of the band name, or all the band members signatures on it?
I'm sure it's better than iPods/mp3s, just meant I had my doubts about the mind blowing sound that's been described in comparison to vinyl or CDs.

64GB is about 400 FLAC songs and close to 2000 CD quality songs. That's a pretty nice sized chunk of music. My biggest concern is the cost of acquiring all of these high quality versions of stuff I already have. Could add up really quick.

I figure the worst case scenario is that I get a sweet looking digital media player with my favorite band's name on it. Best case, it actually works as well as they say and eventually low quality digital music becomes a thing of the past. Will probably end up somewhere in the middle.

If it goes as well as the kickstarter drive, they'll be doing great. Last I checked it was already $500,000 over the goal. CSNY version is now gone. PJ version is halfway there. Still plenty of the other bands left. I think the next highest is Petty, with a little over 100 sold.
I don't think they are claiming its as good or better than vinyl. I think someone in the video said it sounded as good as vinyl but I don't think i've read anyone from Pono say that.

As far as the size of it, I have a 64gb ipod that is completely full with just MP3s and its not even all of the music I would like to have on it. There is no way 128gb would fit all of my music in FLAC. haha

I was reading an article about the Pono music store and from what I understood, they will have high quality FLAC rips. They were comparing all the different levels of files and then the levels of FLAC. You can find those on the internet. Just make sure its coming from a high quality source. Usually now days when you buy an album it comes with the download card and gives an option to get MP3s or FLAC. You can also find FLAC rips with torrents. I only go that route if I have already bought the album on vinyl and never got a download card. Some people feel different about that option, but I already purchased the album so I don't feel bad downloading a digital copy if I dont get a download card.
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arewhyehen
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Re: Pono Music Player

Post by arewhyehen »

Chris, I think no matter what, you've got a great media player. You won't be disappointed
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Re: Pono Music Player

Post by JonnyH »

cwja wrote:
Kali Durga wrote:Ok, so it's not a new sound format, but a new player that will play existing formats both "lossy" and "non-lossy"?
It's a new sound format as well. There will be a PONOS music store, but it will also play all of the other formats.

.

From the kickstarter FAQ:

Is PonoMusic a new audio format? What about PonoMusic quality?

No. We want to be very clear that PonoMusic is not a new audio file format or standard. It is an end-to-end ecosystem for music lovers to get access to and enjoy their favorite music in the highest resolution possible for that song or album. The music in the PonoMusic.com Store is sold and downloaded in industry standard audio file formats.

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-resolution 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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woodisgood
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Re: Pono Music Player

Post by woodisgood »

If there were a Jack White "signed" limited edition for sale, how quick do you think those would sell out? Neil Young, CSN&Y, and Pearl Jam editions of 500 are now sold out . . .
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