{"id":2566,"date":"2014-03-11T10:16:46","date_gmt":"2014-03-11T00:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/?p=2566"},"modified":"2014-03-11T21:55:52","modified_gmt":"2014-03-11T11:55:52","slug":"neil-young-launching-ponoplayer-for-399","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/news\/neil-young-launching-ponoplayer-for-399\/","title":{"rendered":"Neil Young Launching Triangular PonoPlayer for $399"},"content":{"rendered":"
Evan Minsker at Pitchfork:<\/p>\n
\n On Tuesday,\u00a0Neil Young\u00a0is set to unveil his\u00a0long-gestating high-quality digital music player Pono\u00a0at SXSW. But before he introduces it to the public, details have been\u00a0announced. The device, called PonoPlayer, will reportedly cost $399 and come with 128GB of memory.\u00a0They’ll start taking discounted pre-orders on March 15 via Kickstarter.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n
I saw this rendered image of the PonoPlayer accompany launch articles everywhere across the web. Apart from the unconventional shape of the player (looks like a mini Toblerone to me), there was something weird I noticed that I had to highlight. Check it out:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Oh no. No, no, no.<\/p>\n
Visible file names with underscores? The ‘unknown artist’ field? No album artwork? At best, this is sloppy work on their rendered product shots. At worst, this is a clear indicator that the PonoPlayer UI will be a poor experience, and it’s making the same exact mistakes that all the iPod competitors (Creative, Samsung, iRiver, Archos & a thousand more) made back in 2002-2007.<\/p>\n
I thought it might be an old shot, but alas, they’re using it on the official Facebook page<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n