PONO No Go?
In September 2012 Neil Young had introduced a prototype of his new PONO audio player during an interview on Late Night With David Letterman. And as an audiophile I have been awaiting updates on this new technology since.
This higher resolution audio technology promises to bring 24 bit or 32 bit recordings to consumers when most have only been exposed to the 16 bit recordings of CD or lower when it comes to mp3s. But some question whether it will sell because of the lack of sales in SACD
Personally I would love to have the depth of vinyl on a digital format. But even I would probably buy only a select amount of albums in this new format so I don’t know if it would get beyond niche market status. And though the PONO is portable I would probably only use it at home with higher end, noise cancelling headphones because I can’t stand headphones than sound like tin cans and strip the bass out of music or ear buds that don’t stay in and allow so much noise in that you need to raise the volume.
An interesting article on the possible pros and cons of this technology can be found at Evolver.Fm. But the article also concedes that little is known about the specific selling points of PONO other than it promises to bring high resolution recordings to consumers. The technology is still being worked on according to mypono.com and though most of the major labels have shown interest in PONO nobody knows if it will rely on a cloud service or not.
If this technology is deemed viable it will probably take some time to get it up and working so all we can do is speculate.
Various FAQ Added
I’ve just added a general frequently asked questions page, in which I address questions I had previously been asked. It will of course expand over the next few days, as I start remembering some more emails.
Hope it helps you.
DVD Trade In / Gift Card Offers
Best Buy Canada has matched Future Shop’s Trade-In offers with their own selections.
The conditions and discounts are pretty much the same as Future Shop’s. The offer expires on August 15th, 2013 and the discount is valued at $5, $10 or $15, depending on what you are trading in the DVD for :
$5 off select Blu-Rays. $10 off select 3D Combo Packs. $15 off select TV Blu-ray sets.
BTW, Future Shop is also offering a 20% discount on iTunes $50 gift cards this weekend at participating stores.
That’s $40 for a $50 card. But that offer ends on July 28th, 2013.
Future Shop Trade and Upgrade Offer
You can once again trade in your used DVDs for a credit towards the purchase of select Blu-Rays at Futureshop stores until August 15th, 2013.
On select Blu-rays you will get $5 off. On select 3D Blu-ray Combos you will get $10 off. And on select TV Series Blu-rays you will get $15 off.
Trade-ins are accepted at the customer service desk, where you will receive a receipt coupon per individual DVD and DVD box set. And after you’ve redeemed these coupons you with receive an additional coupon for CinemaNow, enabling you to save $5 on select titles on that web site.
More Memorabilia
Amazon.ca
Their selection is limited compared to their American Store
Universal Records & The Resurgence of Vinyl
Universal Records has decided to start a new crowd funding campaign to address the resurgence of vinyl.
UVinyl, a.k.a The Vinyl Project, is proposing limited re-releases on vinyl from the Universal Music catalog. But few details have been made available yet and the official web site, which will be at uvinyl.com, has yet to have gone online.
All that is known is that donations may result in bonus content, like free music and/or video downloads and personalized art prints. But personally I’d like to see an artist / label partnership that enables donators to obtain rare recordings, like that of Eight Second’s “Almacantar.”
Eight Seconds is a rock band from Ottawa primarily known for Canadian hits “Kiss You When It’s Dangerous“, “Where’s Bula” and Sincere“, which were taken from this Universal Records album. And for “Tell Diane” and “No Picasso” from their subsequent release, “Big Houses” on ATCO Records.
A re-release of Almacantar may be imminent independent of this new project this year. But this could have been an interesting fallback, provided the band were consulted in an acceptable amount of time.
This being an American project I suspect most Canadian releases would take some time to be considered, not only because of popularity in the states but because of contractual and rights issues.
I suspect its success will depend on the compensation artists will receive for these re-releases, especially the lesser known acts. I’ve signed on to get more details on UVinyl and will post additional information, if any.