Pono Player

When Dr. Karlheinz Brandenburg invented the mp3 format in 1988, mp3s sounded comparable to the 44.1 / 16-bit CD files they were meant to replace. However, since most music today is recorded in studios at higher sample rates and bit depths, typically from 96 to 192 kHz and at bit-depths of 24 or 32-bits, Neil Young and other recording artists have complained about how the end user hears their music as mp3 files.

So Young has proposed a new type of music player, called the pono player, "to present songs as they first sound during studio recording sessions". The name "pono", which rhymes with phono is actually a Hawaiian word meaning "righteousness".

The pono player will play 192 kHz / 24-bit FLAC (free lossless audio codec) files, which are about 50 - 60% the filesize of uncopmpressed PCM files. Unlike mp3 and AAC files, all the data is preserved due to the lossless compression scheme.

The industry had previously moved in this direction with the introduction of the Super Audio (SACD) introduced in 1999, but had lost the war to iTunes, iPods, and mp3s in 2001, since, consumers, had chosen cost and convenience over quality.

It'll be interesting to see how many people will spend an estimated $400 for the 128 gigabyte pono player and purchase music downloads in that format, which will average about 36 megabytes/song as opposed one eighth of that filesize for a typical mp3.