If Neil Young has his way, the future will be Pono. The 66-year-old singer is planning to take on Apple's iTunes Music Store, launching a "high-resolution" downloads service and releasing his own line of portable players.
Earlier this year, Young said that he and former Apple CEO Steve Jobs had been discussing ways to bring better quality audio to the iPod. But since Jobs's death in October 2011, Young claims Apple has stopped returning his calls. Accordingly, Rolling Stone reports, the title of Young's new memoir is a reference to the looming audio wars; it's called Waging Heavy Peace. "[We] will force iTunes to be better and to improve quality at a faster pace," Young wrote, adding that he wants "to save the sound of music".
According to Rolling Stone, Young has teamed up with Craig Kallman, chairman of Atlantic Records, to create the Pono project. Presumably a riff on "mono", Pono seems to encompass audio protocol, music hardware, conversion software, and a cloud-based music service – though nothing has been confirmed. Warner Music Group, Atlantic's parent company, has reportedly signed on for the project. And the other major labels, Universal and Sony, have been "approached", Kallman said. The hope is that they will all convert their catalogues for hi-fi distribution. "This has to be an industry-wide solution," Kallman explained.
Source: The Guardian
