PonoPlayer wraps up third best Kickstarter campaign of all time

[Shawn Knight]

PonoPlayer, the portable digital music player from Neil Young, recently wrapped up what turned out to be an outstanding campaign on Kickstarter. The project was seeking just $800,000 in funding but managed to secure more than $6.2 million from backers – or nearly eight times more than needed.

The $6.2 million haul is the third most successful Kickstarter campaign of all time behind the $10.2 million the Pebble smartwatch raised and the $8.6 million that the Android gaming console from Ouya was able to muster.

If you aren’t up to speed, the PonoPlayer is a portable music player that makes audio quality a priority. The odd-shaped device features 128GB of internal flash storage, an LCD touchscreen, three physical buttons and a memory card slot should you need even more storage.

With funding complete, attention now turns to bringing the device to market and getting the company’s music download service up and running. Dubbed PonoMusic, the service plans to offer the finest quality, highest-resolution digital music from major and independent labels. The 128GB of built-in storage should hold anywhere between 1,000 to 2,000 full albums.

Early bird backers were able to secure a limited edition black PonoPlayer for just $200. Once those dried up, donors needed to cough up an extra $100 to secure a player. The first batch of PonoPlayers is estimated to be delivered in October of this year with a second run being dispatched in December.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/56420-ponoplayer-wraps-up-third-best-kickstarter-campaign-of-all-time.html

 

[madboyv1]

I will still stand by what I said a month ago, though obviously a lot more people get what this product is all about and are excited to have it. =p

 

[misor]

I would have donated something if my eyes did not betray me. I thought it was a pornoplayer starter campaign.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

The project was seeking just $800,000 in funding but managed to secure more than $6.2 million from backers – or nearly eight times more than needed

that's because many people read the name of it too fast and thought it said porno.

 

[oldikes]

Id consider this, if you didnt NEED to use ponomusic, which the last article said you did.

 

[Guest]

that's because many people read the name of it too fast and thought it said porno.

Yeah, more after reading "ultra-high resolution recordings"

 

[RzmmDX]

Hmm, cheaper than an Ipod.

But I really can't hear a difference between FLAC and 320KBps MP3s.

Then again, I only have my laptop speakers and 13 dollar Earbuds. Though my car does have a good bass and speakers...

I should totally try playing FLAC in my car.

 

[FLWrd]

Cheaper than an iPod? Only for the first few. But at least they did lower the prices from the initial $400+.

 

[wastedkill]

This thing looks plain ugly imagine putting it in your pocket.... if it was made like an ipod or should I say a good music/video player it would definately be more of an option...

 

[VitalyT]

I totally do not understand the excitement about this product, in this time and age, just a music player, also one that looks bizarre, doesn't fit in a pocket and has the weirdest name associated with porno.

And when it comes to high quality music playback, it is far more important to have a good speaker system or headphones. I haven't heard of there being any challenge to find a high fidelity player by itself, there are many to choose from.

The world must be going completely mad pouring money into such an unsubstantiated enterprise.

 

[pmkrefeld]

This doesn't stand a chance against a Fiio X3 and the costs about 200$.
I believe w/o Neil Young's name this thing would get no support at all.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Hmm, cheaper than an Ipod.

But I really can't hear a difference between FLAC and 320KBps MP3s.

Then again, I only have my laptop speakers and 13 dollar Earbuds. Though my car does have a good bass and speakers...

I should totally try playing FLAC in my car.

I can't hear the difference between a 320KBps mp3 and an old static filled vinyl LP. Just kidding. I'm no audiophile, 128KBps is good enough for me.

 

[Guest]

Music today is produced with very little dynamic range making a device with a higher "resolution" completely retarded. All music these days is simply "loud" with no subtleties. There is very little difference between the loud parts and the "quiet" parts. You can make a better player but it's not going to make the music better.

 

[SNGX1275]

Hmm, cheaper than an Ipod.

But I really can't hear a difference between FLAC and 320KBps MP3s.

Then again, I only have my laptop speakers and 13 dollar Earbuds. Though my car does have a good bass and speakers...

I should totally try playing FLAC in my car.

You probably could hear a difference if you weren't driving. I imagine background/road noise is going to eliminate any difference you can hear if you were driving.

 

[Bubbajim]

Music today is produced with very little dynamic range making a device with a higher "resolution" completely retarded. All music these days is simply "loud" with no subtleties. There is very little difference between the loud parts and the "quiet" parts. You can make a better player but it's not going to make the music better.

You're listening to the wrong music.

 

[Rickster69]

It's kinda funny reading all the comments from all the iPOD Fanbots here.

I remeber +7 years ago, hearing the same fluff against the "iPOD", but you're right, the music Industry still pumps out crappy "loudness wars" CD's, and iTunes pumps out even crappier mp3's.

But thankfully, this time 'round, and UN-like "itunes", Ponoplayer and Ponomusic are more independent of each other. -you can play any of your music on Ponoplayer, and/or you can play your "Ponomusic" downloads on any hardware, -you do NOT need Ponoplayer to enjoy HQ-Audio flac files, but u're right, "iPOD" can't handle anything higher than just 48kHz-upsampled ,
whereas Ponoplayer can play ALL that + upto 24-bit/192kHz -sampled rates, from the Masters'.
...anyway, we'll see how Ponomusic plays out it's co$t/delivery, of its Music.

Also, compared to many, many other DAP's, of comparable quality, Ponoplayer is priced very well.

 

[Ranger1st]

"Are you happy to see me .. or is that a pono in your pocket.. "

This thing looks plain ugly imagine putting it in your pocket.... if it was made like an ipod or should I say a good music/video player it would definately be more of an option...

 

[SNGX1275]

@Rickster69
In case you were unaware, Apple/iTunes uses 256kbps AAC files, not mp3, and has done so for quite a while now.

I don't think anyone is saying the Ponoplayer is a bad device, they are just not sold on the benefits being useful for its intended purpose. Here are some of the reasons I don't think it will do well:

• Odd shape, perhaps not a big deal, but this is going to go in a pocket or armband and a triangle just doesn't make sense.
• 2nd device when people already are carrying a phone.
• Portable music players are rarely used when music quality is a big issue. People wear cheap earbuds and listen in 'noisy' environments, this is not conducive to hearing a difference in high quality compressed files vs uncompressed.
• People that are very dedicated to high quality audio have expensive home listening setups. I don't believe anyone serious about music quality would listen for quality in places where they need a portable device.
• $400 is pretty expensive.
• A huge percentage of popular music is not going to benefit from the higher fidelity capabilities that FLAC allows, so even if the 'Master' is that high fidelity, it doesn't matter because it would sound the same as a 16bit/44.1kHz copy. Point is, the music that would benefit from the higher quality isn't the type of music that would be consumed by portable music players.

Perhaps I'm wrong, there wasn't a huge market for tablets before the iPad, it also had a stupid name. Maybe there will be a great market demand for this once it is out, but I'm just not seeing it.

 

[Guest]

You're listening to the wrong music.

You don't understand dynamic range and how music is engineered these days. All music these days lacks dynamic range.

Google "Loudness wars".

 

[Geforcepat]

Lol! pono player

 

[Jad Chaar]

I have a hard time telling the difference unless the audio quality is horrible.