5 reasons Kanye's STEM Player will fail

Date:
Thu, 24 Feb 2022 21:20:57 +0000

Description:
Yes STEM Player is gaining popularity thanks to his new Donda 2 album - but that doesnt mean the it's going to live long.

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Kanye isnt the first artist to craft his own audio player. If you can
remember back to 2014, there was a lot of hype for something called
PonoPlayer - a device crafted by artist Neil Young that would be the Hi-Fi replacement for the waning Apple iPod .

Long story short, it failed. Big time.

Yes STEM Player isnt exactly a one-to-one facsimile of Neil Youngs player and it comes with a few neat features like STEM remixing that Pono did not. That being said, its making all the same mistakes and thats why - as neat as it sounds - the STEM Player will never take off.

Why are we hating on Yes latest pet project? Here are the five reasons why we think the STEM Player is doomed to fail. Reason #1: You probably havent heard of it until right now

Although almost everyone is hearing about the STEM Player for the first time this week, its actually been out for over a year. It originally launched in the middle of 2021 and came with the rappers last album, Donda,
pre-installed.

Why its making headlines this year is because the rapper says hes making his latest album, Donda 2, exclusive to the STEM Player - i.e. no streaming on Apple Music, Spotify or anywhere else. Its on that player and thats it.

But before Ye brought it back into the limelight, there was almost no one talking about it - and thats honestly going to happen again once the hype around the latest album dies out. And that might happen sooner rather than later because Reason #2: Kanye is going to cave under the pressure (again)

Donda was a STEM Player exclusive, sure, but that only lasted all of two months. After that, you could find it on Apple Music - the one place Ye said it would never be.

Theres no telling exactly what Yes going to do next (Im not even sure he knows) but chances are good that, as a rapper and a competent
business-person, hes not going to keep his music locked on a device that no ones buying. HOW TO USE STEMPLAYER PLATFORM pic.twitter.com/F12VnFzEom February 24, 2022 See more Reason #3: It has a neat - but very niche - killer feature

Every device needs a gimmick, something to justify its price tag. For the
STEM Player, its the ability to extract and remix stems on the fly. Of
course, unless youre really into mixing music, the word stem might not mean anything to you - and thats the problem.

For those who dont mix, a stem is a compilation of like recordings that can
be adjusted in the broader mix of a song. For example, you could lump all the vocals of a track into one stem, and then raise or lower the overall volume
of those vocals to better match the drums, guitars, piano, or whatever other instruments you have in the mix.

For large instrumental scores, this can equate to dozens of stems, all of which need to be carefully blended so that no section gets lost in the mix.

The STEM Player doesnt allow you that granular level of control, but it does allow you to isolate some elements of the track to better hear them. You can independently mix up to four of these stems and save your mix to the player.

Objectively, thats pretty unique - but thats not a feature thats going to
sell a 200 / $200 audio player to a broad audience. Reason #4: Theres no UI
or a real road map for the future

Comparing any device to the iPod is a lofty comparison - but the STEM Player bills itself as an MP3 player first and foremost and that warrants the comparison.

Two of the biggest reasons the iPod succeeded? Apples MP3 player had a great UI and rock-solid road map of the future. The STEM Player doesnt have much of either.

The device itself is pebble-shaped and relies on touch controls. Thats absolutely fine for a cheaper player, but at the $200 level, folks really
want to see what theyre listening to.

Another problem is that, when you go to STEM Players website, there are
really no details on how the product will change in the future - theres no word on updates, nor is there much information about how the device works. Those are bad signs if you want people to feel a connection to the product before they buy it.

Not every device needs to have these in order to thrive, but for relatively unknown devices like the STEM Player, they can really help. The now-defunct PonoPlayer. (Image credit: PonoPlayer) Reason #5: The curse of the pop-star tech product

Well just come right out and say it: Most of the products pitched to us by
pop stars and rap moguls are vaporware. Theyre announced one minute and gone the next.

PonoPlayer is the example we used earlier, but the same could be said about any one of will.i.am's projects or Soulja Boys Nintendo rip-offs . Sure, Dr. Dre did an amazing job with Beats, but most celebrities arent committed to
the R&D necessary to make truly cutting-edge products. And yeah, that
includes the STEM Player. Looking for a better alternative? Check out our guide to the best MP3 players



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/5-reasons-kanyes-stem-player-will-fail/


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