HydrogenAudio

CD-R and Audio Hardware => Audio Hardware => Topic started by: lameboy on 2022-02-19 12:44:20

Title: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: lameboy on 2022-02-19 12:44:20
His new album is exclusive to this new gadget.
Specs and info:

https://www.stemplayer.com/ (https://www.stemplayer.com/)
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: kode54 on 2022-02-19 13:15:10
Good, then nobody will have to hear it.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: Heliologue on 2022-02-19 15:06:52
Quite apart from from anything else, that might be the ugliest PMP I've ever seen.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: The Irish Man on 2022-02-19 16:50:31
It is not nice.
Anyway do many people use portable music players these days.
It is years since I have seen anyone with a music player.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: Chibisteven on 2022-02-19 19:33:38
8 GB and no expandable storage and not even an LCD screen to browse your collection?  The thing is ugly, too.  That thing in 2022 is garbage, it might have been passable in the mid 2000's with the iPod shuffles but not today with the modern smartphones and android based players that love very large micro SD cards.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: Porcus on 2022-02-19 21:44:16
C'mon, it is the age of retro ... the question is only which retro. Iron Maiden will soon release this: https://www.ironmaiden.com/news/article/the-number-of-the-beast-40th-anniversary-cassette
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: Chibisteven on 2022-02-19 22:38:34
C'mon, it is the age of retro ... the question is only which retro. Iron Maiden will soon release this: https://www.ironmaiden.com/news/article/the-number-of-the-beast-40th-anniversary-cassette

The tape is far less laughable to me as it's physical media.  If we're going for retro tech at least go for something that feels 2000's and add expandable storage or have decent internal storage if we're going to make portable players.  I had an 80GB iPod Video in 2006.  Why would I want an ugly looking 8 GB Kanye West player?  My FiiO X1 has a 128 GB micro.SD card inside.  My phone has a 256 GB micro SD card and 128 GB internal storage.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: Porcus on 2022-02-19 23:37:43
Why would I want an ugly looking 8 GB Kanye West player?
Because you love Kanye West.

Also sprach der Quizmeister.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: Octocontrabass on 2022-02-20 01:51:30
Quote from: stemplayer dot com
SPLIT ANY SONG INTO STEMS
Can we do that without buying the flesh puck?

And did Kanye draw the instructions? (https://www.stemplayer.com/766e8c8d6564773b9dec.png)
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: binaryhermit on 2022-02-20 07:48:49
Seems about as likely to succeed as Neil Young's Pono Player.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: Chibisteven on 2022-02-20 08:48:59
Because you love Kanye West.
You mean laugh at the fool and wonder how he even got famous in the first place?

Seems about as likely to succeed as Neil Young's Pono Player.
That player turned out to be snake oil.  The fact you could get a better player at the time that allowed for twice the storage at half or quarter of the cost depending on whether or not you had 128 GB micro SD card lying around really underscores how pointlessly expensive the Pono player was.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: Porcus on 2022-02-20 09:56:37
Because you love Kanye West.
You mean laugh at the fool and wonder how he even got famous in the first place?
He is laughing back, all the way to the bank.

No, of course "love Kanye West" was one of my bad jokes, but you missed the point: Artists sell merchandise to fans. Artists sell wooden-boxed limited editions.  Here Kanye West offers you to pay $200 for a player with his new album (exclusively, someone said?!) and the capabilities to remix it. Make your own version of the new Kanye West album. (Shockingly, HA users Porcus and Chibisteven are unwilling to pay $200 for the "apply gain" functionality even if it goes to negative infinity.)

Pono didn't have that. Well it had its own superior file format. No it didn't. (http://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/Pono)
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: The Irish Man on 2022-02-20 10:04:24
Someone is buying it.

$2.2million in Stem Player sales (https://www.nme.com/news/music/kanye-west-says-hes-raked-in-over-2-2million-in-stem-player-sales-in-just-24-hours-3165077)

But that is probably just loose change to him.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: NateHigs on 2022-02-21 11:18:07
Good, I love Kanye! Good to see him controlling his output and not peddling it for pennies online.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: binaryhermit on 2022-02-22 14:35:15
  The fact you could get a better player at the time that allowed for twice the storage at half or quarter of the cost depending on whether or not you had 128 GB micro SD card lying around really underscores how pointlessly expensive the Pono player was.
Another feature this other player had is not having the incredibly awkward "oversized Toblerone" form factor, right?
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: Chibisteven on 2022-02-23 02:40:47
Another feature this other player had is not having the incredibly awkward "oversized Toblerone" form factor, right?

Yes.  The FiiO X1 is like holding a small iPod that fits comfortably in your hand.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: The Irish Man on 2022-02-23 08:24:00
I was wondering are his fans paying $200 just to get hold of the album.
If so then maybe Neil Young missed a trick with his PonoPlayer by not including a new album with it at the time.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: NateHigs on 2022-02-23 11:08:17
I think it looks like a lot of fun. It also "does what it says on the tin".

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CaGuRhADEib/?utm_source=ig_embed
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: Apesbrain on 2022-02-23 14:00:40
Informative video by an enthusiastic user:

(https://i.imgur.com/XOeN59v.jpg) (https://youtu.be/Z-lq-z5KM2c)
Not my thing, but looks entertaining enough.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: spoon on 2022-02-23 14:21:29
Looks cool, and relatively new as to the functionality it brings.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: spoon on 2022-02-23 14:23:40
SUPPORTS:
.AIFF .AIF .FLAC .M4A .MP3 .WAV .WAVE .AAC .ALAC .MP4

Obliviously the web site created by someone who knows little about music.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: binaryhermit on 2022-02-24 16:04:01

Yes.  The FiiO X1 is like holding a small iPod that fits comfortably in your hand.

I mean, the Pono Player had a form factor that seems to me like it'd be superior to the traditional slab form factor when it comes to being held.  It also seems like the Pono Player would be a pain to put in a lot of pockets, especially pants pockets.

And I'm pretty sure a music player spends way more time in my pants than in my hands.

DISCLAIMER: I have neither seen a Pono Player in the flesh nor held one.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: Porcus on 2022-03-07 19:17:28
‘If Slipknot did that we’d be demonised’ (https://metro.co.uk/2022/03/04/slipknots-corey-taylor-roasts-kanye-wests-pompous-200-album-donda-2-16211209/) ... and then Corey Taylor continues "but I guarantee people are looking at him like he’s a genius"

Well Corey ... the metal scene gets their consumers pay money to wear advertisements, how genius is that?
(*looks underneath my logo-printed hoodie* yep there's print on the tee too)

spends way more time in my pants than in my hands.
Ah, the joke about putting the "r" in "pono".
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: soundping on 2022-03-07 20:15:03
Hasbro should sue.

Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: binaryhermit on 2022-03-08 00:08:36
spends way more time in my pants than in my hands.
Ah, the joke about putting the "r" in "pono".

I meant more like my pocket, but I guess that works too
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: soundping on 2022-03-10 03:14:04
Ye’s ‘Donda 2’ Ruled Ineligible for the Billboard Charts — Here’s Why

Rapper Ye debuted his latest album, Donda 2, on exclusive hardware. The move makes the album ineligible for the Billboard charts.
24 hours after announcing that Donda 2 would be exclusive to the Stem Player, Ye revealed $1.3 million in Stem Player sales. The $200 proprietary music player allows owners to remix songs as they listen. As of February 18, Ye says he has sold 39,500 Stem Players so far, netting just shy of $9 million for the album’s debut.

“While that revenue far surpasses what an artist can earn from streaming or sales in the same time period, one thing this release strategy will not be earning Ye is placement on the Billboard charts,” the organization clarifies.

“That’s because the album is being sold with a device that can be used for other means besides the playing of the album. As such, the Stem/Donda package would fall within Billboard’s latest merch bundle policy, where albums sold with merchandise are not chart eligible.”

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2022/03/08/ye-donda-2-billboard-charts/
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: Porcus on 2022-03-10 07:23:23
within Billboard’s latest merch bundle policy, where albums sold with merchandise are not chart eligible.”

Not unexpectedly, I'm not getting Billboard to agree with me that LPs are merch  ;)
But there is something about that in the policy update: https://www.billboard.com/pro/billboard-new-chart-rules-no-more-merch-ticket-bundles/ . (Or likely: here for google cache version (https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://www.billboard.com/pro/billboard-new-chart-rules-no-more-merch-ticket-bundles/) or here for archive.ph (https://archive.ph/PyFOk).)

Billboard cracks down on "get the download now and the LP when it is pressed". OK, there could be reasons for that, but look at the justification:
Only when the physical item — ostensibly what the consumer is buying — is shipped, will it be counted in Billboard’s official tallies.
Right. Because, "ostensibly what the consumer is buying", is the physical merchandise part of it, and that is what is charting (who cares about the frickin' music?)
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: NateHigs on 2022-03-10 11:21:30
SUPPORTS:
.AIFF .AIF .FLAC .M4A .MP3 .WAV .WAVE .AAC .ALAC .MP4

Obliviously the web site created by someone who knows little about music.

Or they are trying to appeal to an audience they don't expect to be literate in all this nonsense. Which I applaud. Sometimes we need to step outside of our microcosm and realise that regular people need to listen to music too. To most, the file extension (if they even know what that is) is the format.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: NateHigs on 2022-03-10 11:33:00
within Billboard’s latest merch bundle policy, where albums sold with merchandise are not chart eligible.”

Not unexpectedly, I'm not getting Billboard to agree with me that LPs are merch  ;)
But there is something about that in the policy update: https://www.billboard.com/pro/billboard-new-chart-rules-no-more-merch-ticket-bundles/ . (Or likely: here for google cache version (https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://www.billboard.com/pro/billboard-new-chart-rules-no-more-merch-ticket-bundles/) or here for archive.ph (https://archive.ph/PyFOk).)

Billboard cracks down on "get the download now and the LP when it is pressed". OK, there could be reasons for that, but look at the justification:
Only when the physical item — ostensibly what the consumer is buying — is shipped, will it be counted in Billboard’s official tallies.
Right. Because, "ostensibly what the consumer is buying", is the physical merchandise part of it, and that is what is charting (who cares about the frickin' music?)

LP is not exclusive to vinyl. LP has been synonymous for 'album' since I was born. In fact, where do you think the term 'album' comes from?

And I disagree, vinyl should most certainly count towards sales, as now we seem to be excluding the tens of thousands of vinyl-only releases that happen every year.

Weird to be so against a music format that a lot of people appear to enjoy. But holding up 'Billboard' as an arbiter for quality or integrity I think shows how far apart we are on this subject.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: Porcus on 2022-03-10 13:03:41
And I disagree, vinyl should most certainly count towards sales
Please read what you are commenting to. The questionable part is how Billboard
* insists that music shall be offered alone without a physical item, or it will not be counted at all towards the charts,
but inconsistently
* refuses to chart music based on sale and delivery of music, insisting on delivery of ... a physical item.


holding up 'Billboard' as an arbiter for quality or integrity I think shows how far apart we are on this subject.
I was holding up Billboard.com as a source of how the Billboard charts are compiled.


In fact, where do you think the term 'album' comes from?
Shellac 78 rpm discs bound together like a photo album, for example this. (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Earlyalbum1.jpg)
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: ajinfla on 2022-03-10 14:18:39
It's not what Ye intended unless it has MQA
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: Dracaena on 2022-03-10 15:51:43
I've seen worse gimmicks, at least this one is functional and might amuse someone as a toy.

There was that time Pink Floyd put a flashing LED in their CD package, and Tool bloated their latest album by putting an LCD screen and speaker in it.
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: Porcus on 2022-03-10 16:06:23
Essentially, it's a device which we thought was entertaining. It's an idea of Storm Thorgerson's which related to Dark Side and the pulse, and it's a live album so the box is "alive". After that, in terms of seriously deep meanings, one might be struggling a bit. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse_(Pink_Floyd_album)#LED_packaging)

The LED surely was gefundenes Fressen for negative reviewers, but I liked it. It fit the design, I could "turn it off" by turning it around in the bookshelf the next day - and it didn't cost anything near 200.

But this was a bit more expensive:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/VWGolfPinkFloydCloseup.jpg
Title: Re: Kanye West launches "Stem Player": 8GB music player with 4 channel mixing option
Post by: canaan on 2022-04-09 00:59:31
I don't really like Kanye's music but man what a stupid decision to package an album with what is essentially a skin puck.