The smartphone has allowed us to put numerous devices for various purposes into a single gadget—from taking photographs to checking emails, everything can be done on a palm-sized piece of high-tech hardware.
However, the trade-off for this convenient “Swiss Army knife” method of product design is that quality is often compromised—and in few areas is this more apparent than in the way we consume music.
The “PonoPlayer” by PonoMusic is legendary musician Neil Young’s attempt to “revive the magic that has been squeezed out of digital music”. In contrast to the plethora of multi-tasking products on the market, it is a “purpose-built device” that is designed to just do one thing very well—to provide the best possible listening experience with very high-resolution music.
Considering how we are very much obsessed with our can-do-everything smartphones, it would come as a surprise to many that this “old school” music player—that does not even come in a handy thin package—has proven to be very popular.
Having debuted on Kickstarter just three days ago, the PonoPlayer has raised nearly US$3million in pledges—this may have something to do with its amazingly strong backing from iconic, highly respected members of the music industry, including Fool Fighters, Arcade Fire and Pearl Jam.
In addition to the black and yellow editions, the wildly successful campaign is also offering limited edition Artist Signature Series players that have been engraved with the autographs of famous musicians like Patti Smith, Norah Jones and more.
Find out how the PonoPlayer is able to pump out its high quality music here—pledges for it currently starts from US$300.
[via Kickstarter]