[kallekutta]

What if Neil have made all these testimonials to make the artists be aware and send him the master-tapes for new remasters?
 
HDTracks are selling what they get from the music companies and that is not always the best. Sometimes things have been up-sampled and have a lot of dynamic compression. The music companies often do not have the actual master-tapes, they usually have some digital remaster saved or a tape copy. The master-tapes is in most cases in the belongings of the artist at their home or something. Neil knows this and if he want better sound-quality than what the music companies have he has to get it from the master-tapes!
 
Listen to Dave Grohl at 5:53: "We'll send you the tapes!"
https://vimeo.com/89794610
 
With the master-tapes Neil will be able to make fantastic sounding new digital remasters at the highest possible resolution without dynamic compression! I wish this is true, I wish the ponomusic-store will be something special!

 

[miceblue]

That's providing the studios used tapes. DDD SPARS coded albums were still pretty common in the late 80s/90s.

 

[Saraguie]

That's providing the studios used tapes. DDD SPARS coded albums were still pretty common in the late 80s/90s.

What does that mean?

 

[miceblue]

That's providing the studios used tapes. DDD SPARS coded albums were still pretty common in the late 80s/90s.

What does that mean?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPARS_code
They're general guidelines, but:

The SPARS Code is a three-position alphabetic classification system developed in the early 1980s by the Society of Professional Audio Recording Services (SPARS) for commercial compact disc releases. The code denotes which parts of the recording process were completed using analog equipment and which were completed using digital equipment, encompassing three areas: recording, mixing and mastering. The first two positions, representing recording and mixing respectively, may be either an "A" for analog or a "D" for digital; the third position, representing mastering, is always "D".

 

[PalJoey]

Some artists are more successful at getting possession of their masters etc. than others. Frank Zappa fought for a long time to get a lot of his stuff from the record label.
 
Suede, on the other hand (or so I am told), made sure from the start that they got ownership of everything - not just the final master tapes but all the tapes used. Not a fan of the band but, if that's true, they were certainly no mugs.

 

[flatmap]

 
This is why I'm hoping they'll have consumer reviews on their website.

Given that their stated intent is to always have the best possible version, I think they'd be well served by this.  It's a great idea.

 

[PalJoey]

What I'm wondering is if the master supplied is 24/96 or higher, will there also be a CD-resolution version available? Neil is famously no fan of CD, but I don't want to buy absolutely everything in space-hogging hi-res.

 

[MassDude]

  Given that their stated intent is to always have the best possible version, I think they'd be well served by this.  It's a great idea.

The way Neil has talked about the Pono and Pono Music, it would lead you to believe that they will have the best masters available for their audio selections. The truth of that will be revealed when the Pono Music store is open for business.

 

[eron]

Disregarding the actual "well-mastered" music that goes into Pono which is supposed to be the game changer, I hope Kickstarter backers of Pono understand that Pono has no direct legal obligation to deliver the player on time. Some KS projects run for almost 24 months and have yet to deliver. The Pono team actually has an incentive to delay actual delivery of the players. Cost components go down. Think of what flash prices will be in 2 years. However, Pono might really be delivered on time in Oct 2014. I hope they do. Most KS projects do not. Especially one that went way across their projected number of backers.
 
Then, they can deliver the Pono player without the Pono music store ready. So early adopters might have to wait for the Pono eco-system to develop or use other sources.
 
I hope backers understand the risk they are taking on a music player they never heard. One that "Pono" says "isn't as high specced" as an AK100.

There are other players that can play the same file formats as Pono. Astell and Kern are probably the best known - they have 3 -the AK100, AK120 and the about to be released AK240. They are higher specced than Pono 

http://ponopeople.org/viewtopic.php?pid=166#p166
 
The AK100 might cost substantially more than a Pono player now, but try comparing the prices when the Pono actually delivers. 

 

[Dumbleroar]

I'd rather buy a pono than the overpriced astell and Kern players.

 

[AmberOzL]

They have Elton John Limited Edition, that is interesting to me as I like Elton John a lot. It is so interesting that I am even thinking about ordering one before the campaign finishes.

 

[PalJoey]

Looks like the Grateful Dead have signed up and will have their special edition Ponoplayer. Like them or not, they've still got a huge fanbase and I reckon that SE will sell like hot cakes.

 

[PalJoey]

Here we go!
 

 

[AmberOzL]

  Here we go!
 

Looks really cool I have to say.

 

[fiascogarcia]

  Here we go!
 

 
Much better than the yellow prototype.