Neil Young shows off his studio-quality Pono music player

Legendary guitarist and vocalist Neil Young is on a mission to save the world’s digital music collection from its low-quality depths. Appearing on the David Letterman show this week, the “Heart of Gold” rocker brought with him a working prototype of a new digital music player called the Pono. For those wondering Pono is the Hawaiian word for righteousness.
Pono has the ability to store and play the original master recordings of music albums from the various studios. Young wants to give consumers the ability to replace their low-quality MP3 files with high-resolution digital files that are faithful to the sound that the artists originally intended them to hear.

Young’s new device brings the decades-old debate about audio fidelity back to the forefront of the digital music landscape, as well as raising several questions regarding piracy and competition.
With the ability to play both studio tracks as well as your current library of MP3 files, the Pono could indeed be a powerful device, but perhaps for the wrong reasons. With digital piracy being rampant in the music industry, what happens when you give the master recordings to a consumer base that usually can crack any kind of DRM that has been put in place? Young’s take on piracy it is that is the new radio for this generation of listeners, with bands getting their work noticed by file sharing rather than hearing it on a countdown show or from a mix-tape from a friend.
Piracy issues aside, Young has gained traction for the Pono idea with the “Big Three” music studios; namely Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, and Sony Music. All three studios are said to have agreed to remaster their music catalogs for the device, which is a major step in the right direction. However, as you probably have already guessed, if you buy a Pono device you will have to repurchase all of your music in the new high-definition format, which is why the major studios are on board. Executives for those companies know that audiophiles will willingly hand over their hard earned money (again) to have a master copy of their favorite albums.
There’s currently no word on a release date or a price for the Pono or its music catalog. With the high-quality nature of the Pono format it’s safe to expect a premium pricing scheme will be put in place for the device and service.


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