Neil Young's much-touted (well, by him) music player Pono is finally available for fans to order online, with the first deliveries being made next month.
The player is Young's alternative to an iPod or other media device that holds MP3s, which he claims are of an inferior sound quality (or "shit", as he put it.) It costs $399 (€337.)
The PonoPlayer will hold 1000 to 2000 hi-fidelity songs which can be downloaded from the PonoMusic online store. Albums by everyone from Young himself, to Jack White, Wilco, Led Zeppelin, D'Angelo, Foo Fighters, Miles Davis, Simon & Garfunkel and more are available to download, although the price point has been criticised.
One website, TheVerge.com, claimed that an album like the deluxe edition of Led Zeppelin's IV costs almost twice as much as it would to download from iTunes, while even newer albums like Taylor Swift's 1989 are significantly more expensive. Not all tracks are available to download separately, either; most of Young's albums are only available in their full-length form.
Other critics of Pono include Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, who said "I can't pretend it doesn't look a bit like a Toblerone."
He does have a point….
