U2 Is Working With Apple On A New Digital Music Format

Despite forcing its new album on 500 million people, U2 isn't finished with you yet. Now, the band is working with Apple to create a new kind of digital music format.

In the latest issue of Time Magazine, U2 hints at a new collaboration in the works with Apple:

Bono tells TIME he hopes that a new digital music format in the works will prove so irresistibly exciting to music fans that it will tempt them again into buying music - whole albums as well as individual tracks.

There aren't any concrete details on exactly what U2 is working on, but Bono's Time interview appears to elaborate on hints he included in a blog post on the official U2 website after the band's new album was released:

We're collaborating with Apple on some cool stuff over the next couple of years, innovations that will transform the way music is listened to and viewed. We'll keep you posted.

So what could U2's "irresistible" new music format be? One of the only new music formats aimed to tempt fans into buying their music all over again is Pono. Pono is a prism-shaped music player that plays ultra-high resolution music in FLAC format. According to the company's CEO, Neil Young (yes, that Neil Young), listening to music on a Pono is like being in the recording studio with a band.

Apple has made attempts to cater to audiophiles recently with its "Mastered for iTunes" series of high-quality remastered albums. If the company is serious about developing a new digital music format that will tempt people into buying albums again, then we could soon see Bono unveil his Pono competitor very soon.