 
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
|
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
68.8.187.59
Well it was a valiant effort-
here's the article
Follow Ups:
To me the Pono site had the best selection and prices.
It just confirmed for me what an unscrupulous scumbag Tim Cook is when a week after releasing Apple Pay he makes a major announcement that all cash should be banned, and we should move to a cashless society. It's guys like him that make the world a hell-hole.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Big speakers and little amps blew my mind!
"Omnifone went bust before Apple acquired it"The writing was on the wall summer 2016:
"PonoMusic digital service is offline following the recent acquisition of Omnifone, up until now the company's sole provider of hi-resolution audio downloads. The sale has forced Young and company to go dark until a new platform can be established."
No new platform was ever established.
Looks like Pono lasted about 2 years, less depending on how you view it:
- Launched for the general public in January 2015.
- In July 2016, Pono Music announced that their online music store would be temporarily shut down (1.5 years after launch). It remains shut down and never returned.
- In April 2017, Young announces that the Pono Player and the Pono Music Store are dead. RIP the big cheese wedge player, and the music store.
Did this Product of the Year make it into the Recommended Components List?
Edits: 05/01/17 05/01/17 05/01/17 05/01/17 05/01/17
/
I have no personal experience but....
Everything I've read on the web points to various software for copying music to the Pono Player but I could only find complaints about how slow, clunky, or unreliable they are.
It is true the desktop software for the Pono Player (Pono Music World) did provide slow transfer speeds. That is why most users used "side loading". When connected to a computer's USB port, the Pono Player would show up as two separate Flash drives - one for the internal 64 GB memory and the other for the micro SD card (up to 256 GB today). File transfer was as simple as drag'n'drop - in both directions. One could load music from the computer to either Flash drive, or from either Flash drive to a computer, or from either Flash drive to the other. (The player can also be used as a thumb drive to transfer non-audio files from one computer to another.)
Side-loading provides *much* faster file transfer than using Pono Music World. The only three things that *required* Pono Music World were purchasing music downloads from the Pono Music Store, updating the player's firmware, and creating/editing playlists. For insanely fast side-loading of the micro-SD card, one could purchase a USB 3 micro SD adapter (about $10, assuming one's computer had a USB 3 port). Just pop the micro SD card into the USB 3 adapter and entire albums could be copied in a few tens of seconds (depending on the speed grade of the micro USB card).
Just a FYI for Pono owners...
You can still create playlists on the Pono by exporting a playlist .xml file from your music library (like iTunes) and drag it to the Pono. Of course, you have to make sure the music files are also on the Pono.
.
I can drag/drop into Sony D100, when I use it as a player, ( once a year while at a Music Festival for a week) with the USB connection.
Too bad Pono didn't do that.
Read good things about the sound of Pono, but personally wouldn't use a portable/headphone music player much.
"....but personally wouldn't use a portable /headphone music player much."
Especially not one with that odd triangular shape! Whose bright idea was that for a portable device?
As I suspect you know, Hansen chose the shape because he couldn't fit his preferred topology into a flat device. In other words, function over form. Which is what I always want in an audio device, but maybe that's just me.
As a happy Pono owner myself, I am baffled by the tone of the comments about the Pono player. What should be obvious to a reasonably intelligent eight year old (it's a desktop player, not a portable; it's for files you already own, not for downloads you buy from Neil) seems to have gone over the heads of many denizens of this board and other audio fora. Considered as what it actually is, it's a nice little device.
Happy listening,
Jim
"The passage of my life is measured out in shirts."
- Brian Eno
"What should be obvious to a reasonably intelligent eight year old (it's a desktop player, not a portable; it's for files you already own, not for downloads you buy from Neil) seems to have gone over the heads..."If it's not a portable player why does it have a rechargeable battery?
From the Manufacturer:
- Pono plays high-resolution music files and other formats better than any portable device.
- Battery: Large 2950mAH Li-Ion rechargeable for up to 8 hours of playback time.
- Personal listening via any headphones or earbuds.
- PonoShare mode with two pairs of headphones/earbuds.If it's for 'files you already own', why did Neil launch the Pono Music store? Sure you can play your own files but it's interesting to note that the Pono has a blue light that illuminates if your downloaded file has metadata embedded in it to prove it came from the Pono Music store.
Edits: 05/04/17 05/04/17 05/04/17
I debated with myself whether to reply to your post, since this sort of thing can so easily devolve into an unproductive flame war. So these will be my last words in this thread.
The Pono team may have thought they were making a portable player, but they manifestly did not do so.
Neil Young may have thought he was creating a viable music delivery system, but he manifestly did not.
Nevertheless, taken as what it manifestly is and not what the advertising literature would suggest that it is, it's a useful product that performs extremely well.
Ok, I'm done now. Feel free to have the last words if you're so inclined.
Happy listening,
Jim
"The passage of my life is measured out in shirts."
- Brian Eno
The Pono Player's industrial design was by Mike Nutall, one of the most highly regarded industrial designers in the world. Mike Nutall was a co-founder of IDEO, perhaps one of the top industrial design firms in the world. IDEO was responsible for Apple's first mouse, among many other famous products. See link below:
Ayre designed the audio circuitry for the Pono Player, the main reason for its sound quality. That is still regarded by many as the best from a portable player - regardless of price. Some use it as a combination portable player and digital player in their home, often replacing multi-thousand dollar CD players.
Thanks for correcting the record.
I think my broader point stands.
Happy listening,
Jim
"The passage of my life is measured out in shirts."
- Brian Eno
Did you ever get paid?
(This is a "yes or no" question.)
:)
Yep! As I cannot travel overnight, I've only met Neil Young one time in person. He is an absolutely phenomenal human being. His career spanning 5 decades can be summed up as interweaving innovation and authenticity, something which is rarely accomplished. He is the real deal and and a real treasure - still making amazing music in his seventies, killing it at the Desert Trip festival last fall, and his latest release "Peace Trail" is a real joy.
Thanks for the great design Mr. Hansen. Everybody involved with Pono should take some comfort in that Pono and the Pono Player did not fail on their own merits, but were kneecapped by an unscrupulous competitor seeking to limit marketplace competition, who thereby did hurt to all music lovers everywhere.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Big speakers and little amps blew my mind!
.
Apple of course.
It's obvious that it's a case of a big company running a small competitor out of business. Happens all the time. I don't think Steve Jobs would have done it, but Tim Cook did.
Go ahead and stick up for Apple and Tim Cook. I don't care. They want to sell you MP3 crap and nothing else, and it seems they don't want any competition from hi-res. In fact doesn't the new ITunes down convert your whole collection to MP3s without asking you? No, I'm not getting into all this.
Later,
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Big speakers and little amps blew my mind!
Omnifone, Pono Music's sole provider of hi-resolution audio downloads, went bust before Apple acquired them. Pono Music shutdown before Apple acquired Omnifone.
Omnifone wasn't paying their bills and was no longer viable. So how does this make Apple the bad guy? Omnifone and Pono were dead in the water before Apple at least saved Omnifone.
If you research beyond the popular Apple-hate rumors you'll find the details.
" Pono Music shutdown before Apple acquired Omnifone. "
Everything I have read was the opposite of this. Apple acquired Omnifone, then gave Pono three days notice they were stopping service, and Pono Music was online until Apple/Omnifone pulled the plug.
If Pono was paying their bills then why would Apple deny them service?
Here is a quote directly from Pono, "One of the key infrastructure partners - Omnifone - has recently been acquired by a large company. An impact of this purchase is that all Omnifone's supply relationships are being terminated, effectively immediately. Omnifone has been the exclusive content provider for PonoMusic."
Routenote online mag had this to say about the termination of service, "Part of Omnifone's buyout deal resulted in the termination of connections, which seems like a kamikaze move.
In the wake of their terminated contract PonoMusic began transitioning to 7 Digital."
So you see the contract was terminated by the new owners. Omniphone did not cease service because they sought protection from creditors.
Indeed a company with cash flow problems telling it's paying customers to get lost is a kamikaze move. Unless that was the intent of the new buyer in the first place. Omniphone was acquired for $10 million by Apple which is chicken feed to them. I've read Apple makes $3 million every minute. Also when Apple made their bid they were listed as a an "undisclosed buyer."
I found other quotes from online journals if you are interested. Interestingly they seem to dance around the Apple issue. Don't want to piss them off now do we?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Big speakers and little amps blew my mind!
The point is, Omnifone was in serious trouble before Apple purchased them. Ominiphone going belly up, and subsequently Pono closing it's doors was inevitable regardless of Apple's timing in purchasing them.
Apple saw value in Omnifone but that does not put them under any obligation to keep Pono or other Omnifone customers afloat. I'm sure Tim Cook didn't wake up one morning and say, "I hate Neil. I think I'll kill Pono".
Pono chose a weak single source partner in Ominifone and they were blind sided with no contigency plan. Poor business decisions killed Pono, not Apple. They would have shut down either way you view it.
And it's not like we were lacking for established hi-res music download sites. The whole timing of Pono's launch and business model was flawed from the beginning as the download business was known to be in decline.
So no, Apple didn't kill Pono. Pono killed Pono.
Pono would still be operating today if Apple hadn't bought Omniphone and stipulated that Omniphone was required to immediately terminate all current contracts as a condition of the sale. Goddamn, how obvious can you be?
Serious trouble from reports, but I didn't read anything about Omniphone filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Even if they were in chapter 11 they still could operate and reorganize. No they didn't have to shut down.
If Apple wanted to play corporate raider, then they wouldn't have made them cancel current contracts. If they had wanted the Omniphone capacity they would just build it themselves on one of their compounds. We both know there is nothing Omniphone had that Apple really wants. When the treasure stacks up too high Apple buys companies like Disney and ESPN.
Talking about bad business decisions, one of the articles I read said the bad decision by Pono was not to create their own server/hoster. It said that all the streaming companies like Spotify and Tidal maintain their own servers. If Pono had bought Omniphone they would still be in business. I think it would be interesting to know if Omniphone ever approached Pono about a share in their company for some operating funds, or offered them the company? Or did Apple really blindside their asses? Mr. Young just didn't cover his ass well enough. Welcome to the business world. He should know the deal. I bet Music Direct and HDTracks has their own servers, but I don't know.
Download revenue down? Yeah only $350 million last year. That's just not enough for everybody. I could see how Tim Cook would say cutting some throats is in order.
There is no reason why Pono should not to be operating right now except dirty business. God knows no anti-trust law has been enforced in this country in more than 50 years.
Apple killed Pono, and they suck for it, and I won't even go into the rant about how the real Apple died with Steve Jobs, and now you Abe Collins are going to have to watch the slow slide to mediocrity the bean counters will turn Apple into. The only bright spot is that it is headed now by an archetypal corporate climbing sociopath, would could do lots of evil things. To boot it is owned by a rich widow with a progressive bent. Ought to be fun.
I will also mourn what Apple once was, just not as much as you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Big speakers and little amps blew my mind!
Believe what you want. Haters will be haters. See my comments to Dave_K.
We've all seen it, we all love it, let's all watch it again together. :)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Big speakers and little amps blew my mind!
Edits: 05/04/17
It's called capitalism. Get used to it.... it beats the alternatives.
Why would Apple bother to purchase a company that was losing money and on it's way down? And after buying said company, why would Apple terminate deals with paying customers? There is only one answer: eliminate competition.
Apple paid a very cheap price to eliminate a formerly major competitor in Omnifone that had fallen down on its luck after a couple of big name desertions. It's hard to say whether eliminating Pono played a factor in their decision. Pono was very small time, but had a high media profile.
You can criticize Pono for hitching their wagon to a horse with no legs, but that doesn't change the fact that Apple are the ones who actually cut them off, the ones who did the deed.
May 2016, a full year ago: "B2B digital-music firm Omnifone has been placed into administration, resulting in the layoff of up to 70 staff as it seeks a buyer for the company's technology assets."
"...Omnifone's revenue base appears to have deteriorated over the last year to the point where administration was the only viable option for the company."
Why would Apple bother to purchase a company that was losing money and on it's way down?
Omnifone was already in administration (bankruptcy) and were laying off staff. They were actively seeking a buyer for their technology assets.
And after buying said company, why would Apple terminate deals with paying customers? There is only one answer: eliminate competition.
Your assertion that Apple's goal was to eliminate competition is absurd. As stated above they bought Omnifone for their technology. The company was already in trouble and seeking a buyer. Apple actually ended up hiring a number of Omnifone employees after the acquisition. They were under no obligation to keep Omnifone customers.... they wanted the technology.
Yes, Apple is a huge company. And yes, people love to hate success.
Omnifone had no unique technology or services. They had a handful of worthless UK patents that nobody was licensing, an e-store platform for selling music downloads which Apple and others already had, a streaming platform which Apple and others already had, and finally, they had (apparently uncompetitive) deals with music labsls that Apple and others already had. That's why they were losing customers and going bankrupt.
I seriously doubt that Apple had any real need for those Omnifone employees that they hired. Apple is in a position where they can hire people just to keep them off the market.
Again, what's the motivation for buying a failing company with no unique technology and no money-making customers?
Again, what's the motivation for buying a failing company with no unique technology and no money-making customers?
I already addressed and debunked much of what you said but believe what you want. As for technology and services, Omnifone had cloud based infrastructure including unique software that was of interest to Apple.
So you're saying that Stereophile pimped a product (Pono) that was locked in to a company that was failing with no unique technology and no money-making customers?
Cheers,
SB
And I expect that the Pono is a nice unit, but redundant, esp if it's Not portable.
Video of Neil Young Pono launch below.
Power is always dangerous. It attracts the worst and corrupts the best ... Ragnar Lothbrok
/
Truly a valiant effort. I own one and love it (though it isn't perfect, and the software is awful, you can drag and drop to your heart's content)
I'd love it if they were to open up the API and make it open source! Now THAT would be fun!
====
"We have met the enemy and he is us" - Pogo
And Sweet Home Alabama.
"The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat" - Confucius
Who needs another digital player when every smartphone can do the same? Finely crafted mini reel-to-reels, however - now that would be a fine thing!
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
All the great cassette tape makers are long gone. None of them would even think of bring back production.
To get tape as good as it used to get, would cost TEN TIMES what it cost back then.. When it was viable.
So IMO any sort of tape based handheld is a burnt out fantasy.
It can be done. There is a market.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
.
Nt
.
Nt
I've listened to a few "high end" earbud players and earbuds..... Mostly at THE Show 2016..... I was underwhelmed.... I didn't find anything that I thought sounded demonstrably better than typical smart phone player playback. (Everything I auditioned was the highest resolution offered. Sometimes it was FLAC, sometimes it was CD quality WAV, sometimes it was 24/192.)
Too bad actually..... I was planning on purchasing a high-end personal audio player at THE Show 2016..... But ended up not buying anything.
(FWIW, at the same show, I was impressed with the full-size high-end headphone offerings from Audeze and Mr. Speakers. But I'm still happy enough with my old AKG 701s to where I didn't have the urge to blow money on something better.)
The only ones that have roused a passing interest are those by Astell & Kern. But, frankly, they are so expensive, one may as well seek out those old mini SN Nagras.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
You may want to take a look at the Fiio hi-res players.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Big speakers and little amps blew my mind!
Are they audiophile? Better than my smartphone? :^)
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
-------------------------------------------------------------
Big speakers and little amps blew my mind!
Nothing sounds good at the shows. Don't you know that? Besides, I'm not using ear buds.
Headphone listening (regular or earbuds) shouldn't have the aural problems at shows that conventional stereo system playback has......
Huh? Of course they do.
Nt
Still claiming they harvest it from the MagTape Tree?
There is no breathing going on.
You just make stuff up to sound like a vanguard, but fall well short of that.
That being said, DSD 128 is all I need these days.
Nt
Sorry can't let con men go unchallenged.
Nt
Quotes just cause not certain you actually make anything other than unscientific claims.
Nt
The New Newey?
My Nak died years ago.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
The downfall of analog cassette tape playback is maintenance, long-term performance/reliability, and especially the quality of repair. Even top tapes deteriorate over time......
The analog cassette could make a comeback if a playback product can be reliably restored to "as-new" specs by more than a select few expert technicians.
I own a Tascam 122 MKII player..... It's one of only few players that actually hold up well long term. Using metal tape, it makes recordings that sound great when played back on a good sounding playback deck like Nakamichi. (The Tascam's playback performance is good but not great. As is Nak's recording quality.) But even with the Tascam, purchasing or repairing one at a "reputable" maintenance shop does NOT guarantee "as-new" performance. Better to get one from a studio in which it had very little use.
I use Sony Walkman portables, sometimes Aiwa. They all sound good and are reliable. They are around 20 years old in mint condition. I'm using Grado SR-80 headphones. Dynamic and musical sound. It's what everyone is looking for but can't find.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
Nt
"Finely crafted mini reel-to-reels, however - now that would be a fine thing!"
Here ya go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-tdBMheg84
We need more of these!
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
Agree. The Iphone is like Walmart.. it kills all competition in a multitude of sectors.
| FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
