Neil Young to sell $399 PonoPlayer music device...

[BKK-OZ]

According to a press release published on fansite Neil Young News and picked up by industry blog Evolver.fm, Young will launch a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for his new PonoPlayer device on 15 March, with early buyers getting a discount on its planned $399 price.

Article on the Guardian here.

[Gravity Jim]

This C-note's for you.

[Phil O]

PonoPlayer? Really? Sounds too much like Pornoplayer.

[bayswater]

Why?

[James Steele]

I scanned this briefly. The article said Young tried to sell this idea to Jobs. My gut feeling tells me that the consumer demand isn't going to be widespread. Sadly, the average consumer is NOT an audiophile and they're perfectly happy with the "lossy-compression" audio formats. In order to have a hope of making this catch on, they'd have to have MILLIONS for television commercials to push this. Apple has that kind of muscle and finances... I doubt these guys do.

[bayswater]

In order to have a hope of making this catch on, they'd have to have MILLIONS for television commercials to push this. Apple has that kind of muscle and finances... I doubt these guys do.

And it would be odd for Apple to take it on, having been so prominent in creating the market for lossy formats.

[Guitar Gaz]

If you read about Neil Young you learn that he was very much in favour of musical therapy for severely disabled children (his own son was the inspiration for this interest) and it was said that digital music, particularly mp3's, did not work for musical therapy for some reason as the disabled did not react to them - but other formats such as vinyl and uncompressed digital were very effective. It is all a bit of a mystery (or was) but this would explain his interest in this format. Neil Young is not doing this for the money - he is not that kind of guy. This is the man that bought the model train company which made the trains he used for his son in the big train set in his barn - there was a risk of the company going out of business. It was all for his son. I think this is what is behind this Ponoplayer - it is about helping with music therapy.

[Gravity Jim]

Digital music didn't work? I'm calling BS on that right now. In fact, you could call BS on about half of what Neil Young says about anything and you wouldn't be far off. He's a very odd man.

If it was to improve music therapy, they'd say so, nut they state their target demo is "audiophiles." And if digital audio didn't work in music therapy, they wouldn't be making an expensive portable digital music player.

As for this product.... Kickstarter? Seriously? I think Neil has enough to launch this bad boy without my 20 bucks.

[bayswater]

Digital music didn't work?

No, Jim, it's true. Digital music doesn't work. (Analog doesn't either.)

[Guitar Gaz]

Digital music didn't work? I'm calling BS on that right now. In fact, you could call BS on about half of what Neil Young says about anything and you wouldn't be far off. He's a very odd man.

I do not agree with you. I think he's okay myself and kept his integrity which is not easy when you have been as successful as he has. He has his opinions like you do I suppose. You think his opinions are BS. That's fine with me.

[BKK-OZ]

Rather than debate whether N Young is a good guy or not (having never met him, I'm not in a position to judge), I am more interested in what this might mean for music distribution. Because I am getting ready to release some stuff, I have become interested in this topic lately. And having started to use iTunes a bit recently, I am also very interested in what might changing, 'cause I do not like the iTunes model very much at all.


Another interesting perspective in this article: David Byrne: 'The internet will suck all creative content out of the world'

[mhschmieder]

As several of my office neighbors have worked with Neil now and then over the years, I can vouch for his integrity for sure. Some of his ideas may seem wild-eyed to many, but they come from a rational mind and from a lot of thought and research; not to mention an ability to think outside the box in a structured way as opposed to "just to be different".

I would like to know more about the absence of reactivity to digital music. Does anyone have a reference to that report? I can't get too involved in this thread without throwing out too many clues as to my interest in closely related projects (which are not publicly exposed), but would like to read anything that others have seen published in a public arena regarding the aforementioned studies.

The news itself is quite old by now but I guess it bubbled to the top again this week due to MusikMesse/Pro Light = Sound in Frankfurt. I think it first made the news a bit before AES last fall, but maybe it was even earlier. Everyone laughed and said it would flop; that there was no market for it. This is the first that I have seen much said about the main motivation, which really made me choke up a bit when I read it.

[Guitar Gaz]

This is the first that I have seen much said about the main motivation, which really made me choke up a bit when I read it.

It was about communicating with his son who was locked in his own world - hence the train set was one way of spending time and trying to get through(he bought the company for that reason), and the Trans album is all about that (the computer voice, trying to communicate). He also researched into music therapy and I think was involved with Nordoff Robbins - I don't say I can vouch for the opinion about digital and particularly mp3's not working for music therapy - but it was his opinion and from his direct experience. So I am pretty sure this latest foray is about his opinions about digital formats such as mp3. I don't think he needs the money and I don't think he is doing it for the money - he is a radical and has integrity. Gravity Jim is more cynical and thinks it BS. I disagree and think that Neil Young has carried this pain around with him (and the guilt even though parents like him are guilty of nothing) and its his way of dealing with things. But then I'm a big fan of Shakey and so have read about him a lot - he is interesting, focused on the music, likes to get a song down in 1 or 2 takes or else he abandons it because it loses the freshness. So he is not keen on the digital techniques that allow manipulation and perfection. He is his own man in a world of corporates.He doesn't strike me as a BS type of guy but has his flaws like everyone. He is only odd in the way successful artists who try to keep their integrity are odd (so Bob Dylan also qualifies). So that's why I posted about this as I think its the background to his interest in this format.

[BKK-OZ]

Article:
iPod killer tops $1M on Kickstarter in first day

Kickstarter page:
Over 2 million $$$ now

[Phil O]

And it's really ugly.