Might be something that's just before it's time, but I guess we'll find out.

Totally happy it's not a typo.

I just woke up and read Neil Young releases "porno" I didn't know whether to be like "atta boy" or throw up in my mouth.

Gonna change the title. He hasn't technically released it yet...

Neil Young unveils new Porno



Way to sucker us into reading this article with your sleazy yahoo-esque ways.

;)

Exemplary case of someone venturing into a market they are out of touch with and don't belong in... Does he realize how many average people can't tell the difference between 128kbps compressed audio and 320kbps? Let alone something as extreme as 24bits and 196k sampling!

i saw the interview on letterman, funny

luv u neil

Neil Young rules.

Awwesome

Won't it be just a .flac (digital format of a CD)reader?

128kbps compressed audio and 320kbps? Let alone something as extreme as 24bits and 196k sampling!

The issue is most people don't have headphones(ibuds) with enough detail to accurately represent high quality music. 128 - 320 is a pretty big difference in SQ. While I agree the differences superseding 320 are minuscule, the highest sample and bite rates possible absolutely have audible differences. It's knowing what to look for and developing a reference point that is important.

Won't it be just a .flac (digital format of a CD)reader?

Yeah, this "Pono" is a load of bull. As someone with music engineering experience, it's obvious Neil has no clue what he's blabbing about. We already have the ability to play studio quality music on our portable music players. The format is called ".flac". The only way it could sound better is if he developed a better encoding technique(conversion of analogue sound > digital). Even then, our current state is so close to perfect any improvement would be negligible.

ipods dont play flac do they ?

Even if a portable player could play flac theres no point, by the time you'd added a decent DAC in the thing and a good amplifier stage and got headphones that would enable u to really notice the difference between flac and mp3 the price would be such that you might as well get a decent hifi setup.

I'd get this cause Neil Young and you guys won't be able to afford it.

price would be such that you might as well get a decent hifi setup.

agreed.

Never gonna happen

neil young has respectable intentions and i like the guy

but this is p lol

Yes, I saw saw porno too +10000000000000000000

i'll stick with my zune, thanks neil

Reads like a jxd article.

Only not retarded

i'm so glad we ended poverty tonight

i'll stick with my zune

Ah, a fellow Zune brethren. I feel compelled to commend you.

Neil Young porno name: the Cinnamon Girl

Ride My Llama

Indeed, the man has respectable intentions. With that said, he has his head in the clouds. It's not the minuscule differences between the standard 320kbps mp3 and the 24bit 196k sample rate audio files that Young should have been paying attention to. Let me emphasise 'miniscule'. The real crime lies in the mastering phase of audio production. If he had his head screwed on properly, he'd know that the issue isn't the translation of audio from the studio to the consumer - it's the production of the audio itself. What I mean is the whole loudness war thing - how audio is being pushed to its loudest with a brick wall limiter which is a hundred times worse a crime than the one he's out to 'solve'. Instead, he should be taking a stand against said mastering practices. The reason why 'Steve Jobs listens to vinyl when he goes home' isn't because of the bloody sample rate. It's because you cannot push the volume up in the studio for vinyl as you can with CD - therefore, the loudness war is rendered moot and sound quality is infinitely deeper, richer and flat out better. Somebody bring me a fucking gun.

Yep, poor recording and mastering practices due to loudness is of far greater significance than said low-res digital audio, lossy or lossless.

But, vinyl, when mastered poorly is as bad as CD when mastered poorly, though different. You have to remember that vinyl wasn't immune to loudness battling before the CD, its just that in comparison, CD lets you crush to your heart's content. CD can sound amazing, "deep and rich". Any recording can be loud and still sound great on nearly any format. It's all about being respectful to the end medium, which means that CD is arguably better than vinyl from a purely objective stance when done right. Sadly, CD's greater dynamic range, technical advantages and the development of multi-band compression during the late 70s gave way to a ticking time-bomb that detonated with Californication and went onto blow up again and again.

"Loudness" doesn't drive sales, and I think its safe to say that a higher quality formats don't either. But Young has said again and again that he'd rather people pirated high quality than MP3s, so perhaps he doesn't really care from this perspective. Either way, his points about quality are moot, especially considering that this device is being marketed as portable and therefore likely to be used with the worst earphones on the world's noisiest trains.

Young's Pono. Cool story

"that this device is being marketed as portable and therefore likely to be used with the worst earphones on the world's noisiest trains."

yeh exactly

The idea is nice. The problem is that it really isn't that different of sound quality with this, as mentioned earlier.

I shall also stick to using my Zune lol.

I don't need studio quality when I'm at work or traveling(when I PERSONALLY use my music device). I want something small. Not this giant toblerone. Worst shape for something meant to be portable.