Neil Young is developing Pono, a new hi-res audio format
Last June, Young filed documents with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, applying for six trademarks: Ivanhoe, 21st Century Record Player, Earth Storage, Storage Shed, Thanks for Listening, and SQS (Studio Quality Sound).
According to the documents, the trademarks include "high resolution music downloadable from the internet," "online retail store services," and "high resolutions [sic] discs featuring music and video of music." "Rolling Stone" writes that Young will have to complete a procedure of a year of paperwork before his trademarks can be registered. Young's plans were also partially revealed in a press release for his upcoming memoir: "Young is also personally spearheading the development of Pono, a revolutionary new audio music system presenting the highest digital resolution possible, the studio quality sound that artists and producers heard when they created their original recordings. Young wants consumers to be able to take full advantage of Pono's cloud-based libraries of recordings by their favourite artists and, with Pono, enjoy a convenient music listening experience that is superior in sound quality to anything ever presented".
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