New iPod alternative PonoPlayer passes $5 million on Kickstarter

In the weeks since Since Neil Young unveiled Pono, billed as a high-fidelity alternative to the iPod and other .mp3 digital music players, music fans have been debating a host of issues, including whether or not listeners can truly hear a difference. With a bit more than two weeks to go, the Pono Kickstarter campaign is hovering around $5 million US after rocketing past its initial $800,000 US goal in less than a day.

The portable music player is alive and well.Pono Music’s PonoPlayer just crossed the $5 million milestone on Kickstarter, making it the fourth most funded project in the site’s history. Twelve thousand backers have pledged enough to pre-order the device. And there is still 16 days to go on its campaign. The project launched on March 11 and hit its goal within the day. It’s clear that consumers that want something more than an iPod. The PonoPlayer is a high-fidelity portable music player. Rather than playing back MP3s, the device supports FLAC audio files that contain significantly more data than their MP3 counterparts, resulting in a dramatically higher quality sound than a traditional MP3 player.