[udesign48]

This is a BS comment. Pono left this player with a usable, non-buggy UI. I still use mine and have absolutely no problems loading music or navigating the UI. I have the internal memory loaded and use a 256gb card in mine. Initial scanning may take 10-15 minutes, then after that it’s fine.

$35 android smartphone will take much less than a minute to load a microSD card.

Imagine, in the busy morning, can you really wait 15 minutes for Pono to load music?
Mine is taking 30 minutes to scan an empty card. I tried to upgrade its firmware.. it's stuck at firmware loading screen for more than an hour.
This is a very poorly programmed player. iRiver mp3 players from 2006 didn't come with this amount of software issues.

Maybe many of its users are fans of Neil Young but I don't see why we should defend a product like this.

 

[silverfishla]

Why couldn't Neil Young or whoever helped him create the Pono go on Aliexpress look at all the portable music players and create a better one but also realizing what people are already buying. Neil Young should know by now about the minimalism movement, where people are wanting more compact lifestyles and people are now living in smaller spaces, yet he creates a portable music player for 1959. What happened to the $6.2M of funding for the Kickstarter campaign? I don't even think this money was from the record labels involved but just people who backed the player. If it wasn't for Kickstarer it would have never been created.

It’s true, without Kickstarter this would never have been created. Everyone who supported it got a player. They could have ironed some things out better in retrospect (like a better built case). Yes, there was a push to bring something to market that represented the sound that Neil Young wanted everyone to hear. I think he did a good job letting people know that there was a world outside of MP3 audio.

 

[udesign48]

Everyone, stay away from this player and company.

This player is dead and its software will no longer update.

Neil Young still owes $14,000 to his software developer.

www.noise11.com/news/r-i-p-pono-neil-young-kills-off-his-digital-player-20170423

 

[silverfishla]

Pono was an orchestrated con job. He raised $6.2 M and he couldn't pay $28,000 to his software developer? and he let the whole music transfer software die?
It looks like Neil Young had taken some big portion of raised money for himself. $$$

This is BS. Apple bought out his music distribution company that Pono used and shut down Pono Music. There was no need to continue to pay JRiver for their software license because that event basically shut Pono down. You can still get JRiver on its own (that was basically Pono’s transfer software), so you’re not SOL. They tried to make their own at the end, but never developed that (and it stunk...if that’s what you’re talking about).

 

[silverfishla]

Everyone, stay away from this player and company.

This player is dead and its software will no longer update.

Neil Young still owes $14,000 to his software developer.

www.noise11.com/news/r-i-p-pono-neil-young-kills-off-his-digital-player-20170423

This is a strange warning, as the company folded a couple of years ago. It’s like saying “Stay away from the Sega Genesis! No more support coming!”. I don’t get the urgency of your warning.

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

Yes, there was a push to bring something to market that represented the sound that Neil Young wanted everyone to hear. I think he did a good job letting people know that there was a world outside of MP3 audio.

I wonder when we're going to get a high quality music digital format called VINYL.

 

[Roy2001]

Everyone, stay away from this player and company.

This player is dead and its software will no longer update.

Neil Young still owes $14,000 to his software developer.

www.noise11.com/news/r-i-p-pono-neil-young-kills-off-his-digital-player-20170423

We all know and we are happy with the player. Period.

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

We all know and we are happy with the player. Period.

"...especially the way it fits in our front dress shirt pockets."

 

[silverfishla]

I wonder when we're going to get a high quality music digital format called VINYL.

Never. You’ll never get vinyl the way we used them get vinyl. You know why? Nobody in this current generation who listens to vinyl has an older brother or sister that left their old Sansui tube amp at home when they went off to college. Left their records to rot only to have their younger siblings discover the warm, engulfing sound of old vinyl on a good amp.

 

[LaughMoreDaily]

Never. You’ll never get vinyl the way we used them get vinyl. You know why? Nobody in this current generation who listens to vinyl has an older brother or sister that left their old Sansui tube amp at home when they went off to college. Left their records to rot only to have their younger siblings discover the warm, engulfing sound of old vinyl on a good amp.

I know it's sad right... I mean, my parents never had a good stereo, it was a Kenwood from the 1980s/90s and I don't remember what their stereo from the 1960s sound like, the one that looks like a long dresser. I remember volunteering at a non-profit many years ago and they had some old speakers from like 30 years ago and they sounded so magical! I couldn't believe it. Speakers this day and age don't even sound that good unless you want to pay an arm and a leg... and a leg. That old sound is a classic and should be brought back so the average consumer can enjoy it again. Maybe via an app that can mimic that high quality audio of the 60s or earlier?

 

[silverfishla]

I know it's sad right... I mean, my parents never had a good stereo, it was a Kenwood from the 1980s/90s and I don't remember what their stereo from the 1960s sound like, the one that looks like a long dresser. I remember volunteering at a non-profit many years ago and they had some old speakers from like 30 years ago and they sounded so magical! I couldn't believe it. Speakers this day and age don't even sound that good unless you want to pay an arm and a leg... and a leg. That old sound is a classic and should be brought back so the average consumer can enjoy it again. Maybe via an app that can mimic that high quality audio of the 60s or earlier?

I know, right? People don’t have good enough amps to hear vinyl properly and...don’t have full range floor speakers. Even some old Fishers from the early 80’s sound better than a good pair of “compact” speakers that people seem to prefer (probably for convenience, which is understandable) with vinyl.

 

[Roy2001]

"...especially the way it fits in our front dress shirt pockets."

If you don't like it, please go for other threads. This thread is not for you.

 

[udesign48]

This is a strange warning, as the company folded a couple of years ago. It’s like saying “Stay away from the Sega Genesis! No more support coming!”. I don’t get the urgency of your warning.

Pono Player FAQ

Screen on/off button is missing. Is this normal?

No, that is completely abnormal....​

My player is showing "Scanning music library" for 30 minutes when my microSD card is empty. Is this normal?
No, that is completely abnormal....

My player is taking more than an hour to update a 35MB firmware file. Is this normal?
No, that is completely abnormal....

I just tried to update my Pono player using PonoMusicWorld and its software says it's timed out. Is this normal?
No, that is completely abnormal....

 

[silverfishla]

Pono Player FAQ

Screen on/off button is missing. Is this normal?

No, that is completely abnormal....​

My player is showing "Scanning music library" for 30 minutes when my microSD card is empty. Is this normal?
No, that is completely abnormal....

My player is taking more than an hour to update a 35MB firmware file. Is this normal?
No, that is completely abnormal....

I just tried to update my Pono player using PonoMusicWorld and its software says it's timed out. Is this normal?
No, that is completely abnormal....

PonoMusicWorld is dead. Don't use that. There is no more "Pono" software, it is gone the way of the dodo.
Someone here will provide you with a link to the most recent FW software. I would send it to you, but I don't have it...but someone here will, don't worry.
There is no screen on/off button, but you can set it to go black in 10 seconds and then use the middle button to have it come on again. So, actually, there is an On button, but no Off button.
Scanning Music Library taking 30 minutes? Not normally. If it hangs up like that, try tapping the middle button to try to kick it out of it's stall. How did the music transfer and load go on the internal memory? Have you loaded that?

 

[geagle]

My Pono works very well, and I'm very happy with it (and I'm not lacking in DAPs, let's say). And I never experienced the nightmares that you're reporting having @udesign48 .

Looks like your Pono has serious problems. Maybe it's faulty? Which would suck, as, yeah, since it's a dead project (a fact that anybody buying one now is well aware of, though, no?), I doubt you'll be able to fix it . You can maybe return it, as it's faulty, and at least get your money back?

Other possibility is that you're a troll, just out to diss the Pono? Though I don't really "get" why anyone would want to do so .... Pono being a dead project - any troll would be basically kicking a dead horse. Horse won't get up and give him the satisfaction of reacting (being dead). Other thing is, anyone who DOES have a Pono and is here (and who did not have any bad luck in the unit they got, ofc - but on this thread I don't remember anyone ever having anything like what you're saying you experienced), is happy with what it does, I'm pretty sure - and has other DAPs for what it does not do. So a troll screaming about how bad it is just does not chime with other people's personal experience with it, and won't budge their own appreciation.... so will only result in troll winding up being put in their ignore list.

Way I see it: if you're genuine and do have a problem, tone down your comments, and either ask for help/advice here or return your (possibly?) faulty unit and try to get back your money - or both . If you're not genuine, you can continue like you did, but I'm pretty sure you'll get ignored soon .