Neil Young has been working on his high-fidelity digital music player Pono for awhile now, and the project is finally starting to bear some fruit, even if it is fruit of the pre-order Kickstarter variety.
The big, bright triangular digital music player provides “studio master-quality digital music at the highest audio fidelity possible” according to PonoMusic, which gives listeners the ability to “experience music the way the artists intended.” It remains to be seen exactly how accurate that is—and whether there’s consumer demand for it—but it’s kind of neat that the Canadian rocker is pushing the idea so hard.
The player boasts 128GB of memory that can be used to “store from about 100 to 500 high-resolution digital-music albums,” although that can be expanded via memory cards. The device also sports a touchscreen and button controls.
The device is designed to work with the PonoMusic.com service, which will provide listeners with “the finest quality, highest-resolution digital music from both major labels and prominent independent labels.”
The device will reportedly not be restricted by DRM in any way.
While there are plenty of naysayers that assert the day of the stand-alone music player is over, audiophiles looking for better sound than what they receive from an iPod, iPhone, or Samsung Galaxy device might just put this one in the winners circle. Let’s watch and listen.
