This gist shows how to load in a json file into a single page EmberJS app as a "preferences" file and have it be persistent. I arrived on this code by trial and error during my learning of emberJS so it's probably got issues and could be more elegant. Thought it helpful to document it somewhere.

EmberJS App Prefs from JSON file

Env.IndexRoute = Ember.Route.extend({
  model: function(){
		return $.ajax({
			url: "data/player.json",
			dataType: "jsonp",
			jsonpCallback:'playerData',
			crossDomain: true
		});
	},
	setupController: function( controller, model )
	{
		controller.set('model', model);
	}
});

Ok. so moments after posting this I realized that my json file was more complex than I needed it to be. I restructured my json file to be simpler and was able to remove the "player[0]" portion of the previous code.