A new music player that...only plays music
Neil Young’s high-quality music player is going on sale for $399 in retail stores beginning Monday after a successful Kickstarter campaign.
Pono is a small device with a triangular-shaped back that allows users to buy high-quality audio files at a premium. The idea is to make a product entirely devoted to listening to music, a departure from devices like the iPhone and Android that have turned music-listening into a mere feature.
Young said he wanted a music player that sounded better than MP3s. “I didn’t listen to music for the last 15 years because I hated the way it sounded and it made me pissed off and I couldn’t enjoy it any more,” he said at on stage at CES on Tuesday, according to the Verge. “I could only hear what was missing.”