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83 out of 118 people found this review helpful
3.0 stars
"Oh what could have been..."
Pros: Sexy design, amazing screen, Wi-Fi, MP3 playback, video
Cons: Proprietary this and proprietary that
Summary: When will Sony learn?
I just want to shake some sense into them. Hopefully the new CEO will actually LISTEN to the consumers (hopefully he is reading this).
Sony could have run away with the MP3 market with its inherently strong brand name, unique designed products and comparative advantage in creating innovating, revolutionary user friendly mini devices (think Walkman the product that helped them build an empire).
But now they are squarely in Apple's rear view and will likely stay there for the foreseeable future.
Why? Simple.
Proprietary software and hardware. Think ATRAC and memory sticks. Think Betamax.
Now add UMD. Why oh why? It comes down to Sony's attempt to milk the golden cow. But it might be laying eggs instead. If you are going to pay through the nose for this machine you should expect a TRUE multimedia product. You should expect a hard drive. You should expect compatibility. You should expect the best.
Will it be a kick-ass gaming machine? Of course it will. Could it have been a kick-ass multimedia iPod killer? Most certainly.
Somewhere in California, the Apple execs are having a good laugh - at least those guys have learned from their own experience with Microsoft. You have to think big and give the customer the freedom to choose. They are the ones who will vote with either their dollars or their feet. Its that simple.Updated
** EDIT and UPDATE **
See, the worst thing that ever happened to Sony was that it got caught up in the 80s expansion and bought Columbia Pictures and Records.
They lost focus. They started worrying about supporting other divisions that they have no business being in. They started falling for buzzwords like "synergies", "vertical integration".
Basically, they started letting these other divisions dictate what they produced on the hardware end. Hence the creation of MiniDisc, ATRAC, (does anyone remember DAT?), and now UMD.
See folks, as much as a runaway hit as PS2 was, it has been losing market share and prices have come way down. In any given year going forward, Sony will make much more money on a runaway movie hit like Spider-Man 2 - and you'll be sure they'll try to milk it in every way possible (CDs, DVDs, VHS, UMD, etc.)
The way I see it, Sony has NO BUSINESS being in the CONTENT BUSINESS. Stick to what made Sony great: great innovative consumer products.
...and Let the consumers choose the and identify the eventual format winners.
- 37 replies to this review
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It's still a good multimedia device. It doesn't necessarily need a hard drive, even though there are some available from third parties.
Sure the MP3 player isn't the PSP's strongest feature, but at least its functional and does a good job. ATRAC works just fine, and probably is the best sounding compressed file format. You could store way more songs with it.
And if you ever take the time to create the "Groups" in SonicStage you could have a well organized library. It displays album art, now even visualizations, what more could you want.
The PSP can now even stream recorded TV from a DVR to the system itself. (LocationFree) Not to mention the RSS Feeds as well.
It still is a pretty awesome multimedia machine.
Now, sure Sony could have made blank UMD's so people can record stuff. That would have made the PSP supremely dominant, but despite that, memory stick isn't so bad.
Nevertheless, its no iPod killer, yet. -
You make some good points HOWEVER heres the thing Attrack kicks ass find me a better sounding compressed audio format and I will use it Memory Sticks are the best they're a good size so you wont lose them and they have good storage capabilities and are good quality. UMD's though are kinda meh because I wish I could burn a movie that I've bought just copy it to a UMD or something that'd be sweet rather then copying it to your memory card and taking up half my 2 gig memory stick. And it needs more multimedia features other then that though its amazing
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Yet another inane and infuriating example of someone who posts a review on Cnet without actually purchasing or reviewing the product on its merits and not simply it's opinion on the company.
Please, please, for the love of God, do NOT rely on this review to make your decision about purchasing this product. Please. -
well first of all htis isnt even close to being an ipod competeditor. sorry kid. but anyways... sony uses ther software and hardware just so that you can buy there stuff and not others. and they had to make umd's i mean what were they gunna do copy nintendo with those gay little chips or have a cd drive so you giant disc in there?? c'mon i mean the psp is a gaming
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it doesnt matter whether they use umd, or memory sticks, or SD cards, or plain traditional DVD's, because overall the games sony brings out will only be for the sony PSP, so what difference does it make what format the games are produced in. A hard drive is a baaad idea because how would u get the games on ur psp? u'd have to do an online subscription/download thing, and it would take forever to download games, plus u'd only be able to buy from sony, until at least other stores got a "online psp store" setup. plus UMD has its advantages, such as it being small and how u can fit lots onto so little space. sorry, u just dont make any sense, i think ur trying to sound smart, but u failed. cheers
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The PSP was not designed to compete with the iPod. It is first and foremost a portable games console.
If you bought this as an MP3 player, then you will undoubtedly be disappointed. As an MP3 player it suffers the same negative aspects as the iPod - hugely oversized and hugely overpriced for limited features.
But, the main point of the PSP (how pretentious is all that "going off on tangential arguments" nonsense?) is that it is a portable Playstation. The playstation, you know, that games console.
Quite honestly, I seriously doubt that Sony ever even envisaged the PSP competing with the iPod. Let's face it, the iPod sells for one single and solitary reason - the name. It is monstrously large and hideously overpriced. There are MP3 players at half the price that have the same capacity and mroe features, but they don't have the iPod branding.
And I, for one, am glad that the PSP wasn't released to try and compete with the iPod. If you bought it thinking it would, then you seriously missed the point. -
Yeah, a 5GB (at least) hard drive and multi card compatible flash media slot would have been nice, in the same way that a much faster chip and substantialy more ram would have been. But for the money and the size, you have got to hand it to them, it kicks. 333mhz is g3 powerbook speed, 16mb of ram is 1996 stuff but the whole thing weighs under 300 grams and runs off of a 3.6V 1800mha Li-ion cell. I'd like to see a g3 run off it's battery for 6hours+ of continuous game play or even run a GTA game.
Perhaps one day there'll be a PSP2 with all the forementioned improvments and a screen that isn't a fingerprint magnet.
?eter -
Does changing formats REALLY hurt you that bad?
I'd rather be enjoying what today's companies are putting out instead of being curled up in a ball by a corner. We all hated the fact that Sony did this and Sony did that, that doesn't excuse the fact that the PSP is one of the most advanced portable devices on the market.
So, you can either continue to sit there in that lonely lil' corner (god knows how long) until a perfect heavenly-made gadget finally comes out.. OR bite your lip Mr. Perfectionist and come join the fun! -
dont complain man sony is the best cant beat its quility.(ITS A SONY)
APPLE IS NO THAT GOOD -
dont complain man sony is the best cant beat its quility.(ITS A SONY)
APPLE IS NO THAT GOOD -
If sony just made this thing a small hard-drive with a screen and game controls they truly could have blown the ipod away. I don't think anyone would truly miss the Wi-Fi.
Then again, by having propietary media rather than just a big chunk of storage, they have more control over issues such as piracy. If you could just use USB storage or had access to a big hard drive, people would burn their own copies of games. (ever hear of a "Super" XBox?)
I work in a high school and have seen plenty of kids with PSP's roaming the halls.
This is THE portable gaming system for guys between 14-32. I wouldn't buy one for my nine-year-old, but if he was 16 he'd probably buy his own. -
Yeah I agree that Sony's a little b***h when it comes to compatability and supplies. Waste of potential? Maybe. Don't know if Sony has anything else planned or if Microsoft is gonna join the portable gaming market. Can't really judge this by comparing it to iPod on the MP3 player market. Main purpose is still gaming so you might as well compare it to everything else on the gaming market. So let's look at portables. You have: PSP, Nintendo DS, and Gameboy Micro as the major competitors. Obviously DS is the only challenger to the PSP on the gaming market, and obviously it doesn't come close to the PSP's multimedia ability. Don't compare this to iPod because iPod is also quite restricted in terms of firmware, and also because the PSP is still made for gaming more than anything else.
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don't you people know anything about the profit motive? Sony didn't have to get into the portable game market at all, but they saw Nintendo virtually monopolize the market just for lack of competitors. Of course a portable playstation just made sense. On that merit alone they didn't have to consider music, videos or web capabilities, but they put them in there anyway. If those features aren't sophisticated enough or powerful enough for lack of a hard drive, I'm sure the executives are saying 'tough hits, let's see Nintendo come out with a game player that does all ours does, or Apple come out with a hard drive device that plays grand theft san andreas'. Then you'll see competition for the next generation portable, but quit whining about what could have been and just be happy you can take your porn and twisted metal with you to play at work/school on your lunch break.
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bought a PSP a couple months ago, and while I like it, I have to say that it is really crippled as a multimedia device. sure, a hard drive would probably have jacked the price up, but what about making a the UMD drive removable, so that those who wanted to buy an optional HD and swap it out could? and what about recordable UMD that you could drop your own video and music onto? probably could have sold 1 UMD recorder for the PC of every PSP buyer.
it is clear that the content-provider side of Sony preferred the DRM aspects of a non-recordable, proprietary format more than enabling the hardware side to make lots of money.
a shame, really, that a screen that awesome is so tough to get video onto. -
First and formost...the PSP was not made to give apple a run for it's money. If you for a second think that this could compare with an IPod you obviously havn't look at the numbers. IPod will lead the field no matter what at this time. Sony made the PSP for gamers first, and then they added things that people could also use to give it more purpose. They didn't sit down and say "We need to make a machine that can play games, be the best music player, be the best video player, and be the best web browers on the market" They just wanted to make a product that they though people would appreciate for multiple reasons.
I bought a PSP first becuase I'm a gamer. I was considering buying an IPod, but becuase SONY was smart, they incorporated a mp3 player into the PSP as well. That saved me at least 200 bucks. The ability to play movies is also not going to compare to the people who have portable DVD players, but think back a few years, when dvd's where new. Everybody thought that they were overly expensive and that they would never pay that much to see a movie. The psp is letting people watch the movies they love and a decent screen, and not have to lug around a over sized dvd player at that. I'm not saying that people are going to buy a PSP just to watch movies...that would be stupid.
I guess what I'm just trying to point out is that while the PSP (in my opinion) is the best portable gaming console out there, it doesn't have to be the best mp3 player, movie player, web browser, etc. All it has to be is fun to use. I love being able to play a game for 10 mintues, or even an hour or two at a time. If i'm on a long car ride, I like the fact that i can plug in a car charger in the front seat, and play a game, then switch over to one of my favorite movies in a matter of seconds. Then if I wanted to, I could stop the movie, and play some of my favorite music in a matter of seconds as well. Sure an IPod is great....for just playing music...(unless you consider the new IPod video to be a movie player....that is way overpriced...the only thing that makes it so great is it's harddrive) I would easily rate the PSP in the 9's. It does everything that I want a system to do in more...and it's doesn't cost as much as just a portable dvd player (50 - 75 bucks), an IPod ($200 - $450), a PDA for web browsing ($200+), and a nintendo DS ($125). If you want to do what these machines do, and you want to save money...buy a PSP...it's great.
Total cost of above said items = about $600 on the low end...
Total cost of PSP with extras = $400 on the high end.... -
It is already an all in one media answer that is small enough to put in a bag. sure you can put the ipod in a bag but can you surf the internet or play games on it...no and the video i pod costs 400 dollars. everyone knows that when a company releases a game system like this they are losing money if they were to put a hard drive in it, then it would cost the consumer and for the people that are just buying it to play games then it really is not necessary. they have to make a profit somewhere they are a business. If there is not a complaint about the quality of the product or the preformance then it is not a review of the product but of the manufacturer
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To suggest that Sony has more proprietary issue than Apple does is ludicrous. What design group is not tempted to have a dedicated format to lock you in? Your comparison to Apple is laughable when you consider that their format does not play on other brands and yet they literally own the market; 96% of MP3 players in users hands in the US.
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since the nintendo ds came out the psp passes it by far, sure it's not perfect but it's a start just like the regular playstation was in the very beginning. give it some time and the psp will evolve into the best thing ever for gamers.
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Sony could have absolutely blitzed apple with this. sony have simply confined themselves in the gaming market when they could have done so much more with this.
the person who made the comment "dorkwad - the ipod is an mp3 player" has completely missed the point...yes the ipod is an mp3 player (and now it has video) but that is all that it ever be....the psp had the potential be all the ipod is and more....hmmm i wonder what will happen if apple comes out with a gaming unit???? -
when i got my psp, i was learning new things about it everyday, even what it could become.
it seems like Sony and other developers don't seem to care what the consumers think. things like cheaper memory sticks, recordable UMDs (a must!), easier ways to put video files on it, etc. And if it's going to be anything close to an Ipod, the memory sticks would HAVE to be cheaper (1 GB=$120, 2 GB=$350!).
i sure hope they do something about this, or many consumers will be disappointed. -
the reason sony didnt add an hard drive to the psp was to reduce the cost of the hand held. even the $250 were controversial, now imagin adding a hard drive, u want the best, so lets say a 20 gig hd, that would sky rocket the price to 450-500 aprox. concerning umds, they have great image quality good sound etc, im just waiting for psp2 tv mod to come out and i will start buying more umd video, great console
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Well, This is a good hand held console and that is its main pitch. the multi media features are a bonus and lets face it having all the detail it has now and a hard drive will make this console a brick. the cards they use are not perfect but will do as it does not halfto be a media center buy a MP3 player man
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what r u smoking...
sony should have given this baby a internal hard drive(for music, movies-that u can burn off of normal dvds, and game saves) plus use a type of flash memory, mabye the duo stick, to put the games on.
then this the PSP can sell for 350 and i'd buy it... cause it would certainly replace the iPod which i currently have plus the ds which i have also.. but now.. it's way over priced for me to because i have an iPod.. i don't need a system that lamely attempts to have a mutimedia feature... plus the DS have games that aren't on any other console.. i can just play all the games of PSP on my PS2... i'm not a nintendo fanboy, i just want something that's practical and a good value.. i would rather save money to but a xbox 360 or PS3... -
You know ... UMD has become one of the most popular video formats ... I dont know what you guys are complaining about but everything is all good with UMD's.
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In the hand held gaming market, the question was when was sony going to release a handheld? Their dominance in the gaming market proved a clasp on the consoles so, when were they going to venture into the handhelds?
You seem to believe that this was sonys repsonse to the ipod yet they are cleary aiming at a different market with the gaming features. Although it may be able to hold songd and videos but these are additions to the initial handheld.
[Edited by: admin] -
How can you compare two apparently different devices? Apple is'nt in the gaming industry. Sony's PS division IS. Apple Started out making THE WORLDS BEST COMPUTER and now has to put out crappy little MP3 players with limited functionality to survive in the marketplace. Sony knows what they're doing. To let the cat out of the bag and release a device with "unlimited" functionality would be like shooting themselves in the foot! No one would buy it because the vast majority of PSP users are still GAMERS. The IPOD is NOT a GAME MACHINE!
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What do you people think about this? Is it a one of a kind. It plays MP3s, plays back Video, lets you watch Movies. I think the best furture of this device is watching movies. There is a update called 2.00 on their website that makes it able to go on the Internet, now that is cool. One thing that is bad about this thing is that you have to buy expensive memory cards for it after you run out of space of the one it came with 32mb. All I know is that it is one of the best Handhelds, Gaming devices available. So if you are thinking about getting one than theres no time to wast.
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Sure they could of put a hard drive in it. They would just have to add another $200 to the price. Its good at what it does best. That is, playing games. I'm sick of cell phones trying to be game boys and game boys trying to be mp3 players.
I don't think apple is laughing. There certainly smiling at the progress the I POD has made. If anybody is laughing it is Sony. They're laughing at Nintendo. Why can't Nintendo get that we don?t want two screens, a microphone, and a touch screen when the graphics suck. All in all I think the PSP is great. Nothing can beat it and nobody is going to beat it for a while.
Also I like the idea of a UMD. It is tiny and it holds 1.8 gigabytes. Which is amazing for it's size. -
Doesnt give you a lot of freedom either, you have to convert or get your audio in THEY'RE format...
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LoL I guess you have a good point!
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sony is trying to make everything proprietary so that the ever popular mp3s and all that go away and sony can take control of the whole electronic business!!!! they are not willing to compete with other companies, they are trying to consume them.. hehe i dont think its gonna happen, im still buying LOTS and LOTS of toys that aren't sony.
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dont u mean the executives in japan?
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The PSP is, by far and long, one of the the best gaming and multimedia devises that has come along since the t.v. If you've been around the internet, you would've realized that there is sooo much more that you can do with this little devise than most people know about. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to promote hacking systems for the better of the buyer, but after I got tired of the games and the movies, I figured I'd give this modding thing a shot. Boy was it worth it, I put a couple of programs on mine that allowed me to have a calander, calculator, PS2 and Sony Wega remote, VNC controller and a whole lot of other fine programs. Thnx PSP-DEV for opening my eyes to a whole new frontier.
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PSP is only a portable game player & all this people giving a 10 to this device for been portable are stupid or rich. buy it if you wanna play games on the road but for videos & MP3s you'll spend hundreds of dollars extra. you gave a great Review but a 6, I'll give it a 2 for the beautifull screen & is too big to be portable
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I like the way similes have been used excessively by this guy. Good job.
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I largely agree with you on the PSP, but the Betamax comparison that you made in your review is unfair to Sony. Betamax was not proprietary, though they did develop it. In fact, the first publicly available VCRs *were* Betamax and they were available from a wide number of manufacturers, not just Sony, and it was the superior video standard in its time. VHS, though, provided longer record times sooner in good-enough quality and thus won the format war.
Same thing with the mini-disk. Sony's the biggest pusher of the technology, but others had their player/recorders as well, but it missed its market opportunity, if there ever was one. I do agree about Sony's current stupid moves with the ATRAC3 and UMD formats. This is actually very close to the Nintendo concept of mini-DVDs to thwart piracy, but as I stated in my own review, a 20 GB hard drive coupled with a sync/video conterter app that would restrict transfer to other computers or PSPs would have made the PSP a world-beater.
And still could, really, because the main selling point will be the games and I predict (for whatever that's worth!) that it will succeed on that basis. A design change after the initial release, or even a PSP 2 could ably incorporate this kind of upgrade, but they better move fast. The personal technology market is on Internet time these days, so a typically slothful corporate response will leave them in the dust. Again. -
I felt that the reviewer rated this product too high.
I once made the mistake of trusting Sony with my hard earned money years ago when I bought a MiniDisc recorder.
The battery performance was rated at 4 hours, but in less than 1 year, it dropped to 3 hours, 12 minutes.
I wasted so much money on extra rechargeable batteries (the unit does not accept standard batteries, so I was screwed) and an ultra expensive battery charger.
I have forseen the same exact issues with the PSP and therefore cannot recommend this product to anyone for any reason whatsoever.
Buyer Beware, this product will have you realizing you have made an expensive mistake.
