Pono

Pono Music is a music "ecosystem" in development. It seeks to create the best listening experience available in any situation and preserve albums as an art form. The company behind it was founded by Neil Young. It is expected to launch in October 2014.

Source Material	Music Store/Application	Portable Device
Lossless Audio (FLAC) remastered from the best available original source material at the highest resolution for that source. 1411 kbps (44.1 kHz/16 bit) (CD Audio quality) 2304 kbps (48 kHz/24 bit) 4608 kbps (96 kHz/24 bit) 9216 kbps (192 kHz/24 bit)	Sells full albums only at an expected $15-$25, priced by record companies. No subscription fees DRM free, no restrictions "Supported by all major labels and prominent independent labels." Mac OSX, Windows, Web-based	ESS Sabre32 ES9018[K2M] DAC Up to 32-bit/384kHz, 2 channels DNR 127 dB THD -120dB "Ultra-linear circuitry with wide bandwidth and low output impedance." 64GB internal storage, One 64GB MicroSDXC card included. Supports MicroSD[HC,XC] Plays most common audio formats, not only Pono Music. $400 price, expected.

Pros

• DRM-free Pono albums using FLAC:
  • ...are the highest quality recordings available (and could ever be available for older recordings).
  • ...can be played in most audio software and by most portable players as-is.
  • ...can be converted easily, by the user, to a lossy format and used with any software or portable music player.
  • ...remain usable even if Pono Music goes out of business.
  • ...are professionally-packaged digital music.

Cons

• Expensive to re-buy music, but one's existing music library can be used with the system.
• Music player is triangle shaped.
• SDXC cards use the exFAT filesystem, requiring a license from Microsoft, making support outside of Windows or Mac OSX difficult.

Links

• Pono Music
• ES9018-2M DAC Product Brief
• Pono (digital music service) at Wikipedia
• HDTracks, an existing music store offering lossless DRM-free music