Sony's PSP Handheld Storage Media Pictured

Thanks to Evil Avatar for pointing to an article on the new PSP Insider website that has the first pictures of the UMD disc format. The Universal Media Disc, or UMD for short, is the game storage medium that Sony's handheld, the PSP will use when it launches in late 2004, and is a 2.4 inch disc that can store up to 1.8gb of data.

Comments

PSP UMD vs. GameCube Mini-DVD

[peel]

This isn't so different from a GameCube disc. It's a little smaller and has .3GB more storgae but other than that I don't see a real significant leap in technology, nor another reason to introduce yet another optical disc format.

GC Optical Disc - 7.62cm(3in) 1.5GB Storgae capcity
PSP UMD - 6.1cm (2.4in) 1.8GB Storage Capacity

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but GC discs do not employ dual layer technology, so theoretically they could hold twice the amount of data. I'll leave all of the comments about using this type of storage in a handheld to others. -peel

Re:PSP UMD vs. GameCube Mini-DVD

[Anonymous Coward]

introduce ANOTHER disc format?! how about OPEN formats for starters?!

Why? Are you going to be making games for the PSP? No? Then what do you care?

The whole notion of open data storage formats is only of marginal utility. For general-purpose data storage devices like recordable/rewriteable DVD's and whatnot, an open format is good. Means there will be more hardware and software support, which means writing data to that format for long-term storage would be a wise, or at least not-unwise, investment.

But for stuff like this, it's simply not important for the data storage format to be open, and in fact it can be a severe liability when it comes to piracy. It's a lot easier to mass-produce illegal copies of a game or a movie or what have you if the format is open and devices for reading and writing are widely available. If the machinery to produce PSP discs costs $100,000, you're a lot less likely to have a problem with piracy.

Re:Discs in a hand held?

[macdonaldorama]

These discs look strikingly similar to Sony's MiniDisc format. I used a MiniDisc walkman for years and I honestly can't remember ever hearing it skip once. If this new format is in any way related (and it's a good guess that it is) I wouldn't be too worried about skippage.