I posted this over on the
Pono forum just now.
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The reaction to Pono Music Vault so far must be disappointing. In the poll done in this forum, 8% said they would use the Vault, and 66% said they would use other software, perhaps returning to try PMV again later. That's a tough start.
As you may know, JRiver provided a version of JRiver Media Center that Pono distributed as Pono Music World. When the store closed, Pono asked JRiver to waive a month's payment, which I agreed to, and then things went dark. For the rest of 2016, there was no news or payment from Pono.
I want to make it clear that JRiver has been a strong supporter of Pono since the beginning, and the amount of money we received was less than what Pono will probably spend to keep one person working on the PMV.
Last week, I asked Neil's manager if Pono might like to sell the assets or do a joint venture to get the store up and running. I think it could be done in a couple of months. We've done stores before and they aren't that difficult to do. I received no answer.
I'm making the offer again here to see if there is any interest.
Pono had a great start and was ground breaking in some ways, and I think if Neil were to continue to spearhead this movement and had a strong business partner, it could continue to build a solid community. I believe that this community is one of its greatest assets. It's painful to watch it slipping away.
Let's do something while it still can be done.
Jim Hillegass
CEO
